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AUTHOR: 


TAFEL,  RUDOLPH 
LEONARD 


TITLE: 


EMANUEL 
SWEDENBORG 


PLACE: 


CHICAGO 


DA  TE : 


1867 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TARHFT 


Master  Negative  # 


Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliggraohir  Record 


1938.94 
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Tafel,  Rudolph Leonhard,  1831-  ^^^  ^^ 

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EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG 


AS   A  PHILOSOPHER,  AND    MAN    OF 

SCIENCE. 


BT 


RUDOLPH    LEONARD    TAFEL, 


PHILOSOPHIC  DOCTOR. 


». 


l 


I 


CHICAGO: 

E.  B.  MYERS  AND   CHANDLER, 

87,  Washington  Stkebt. 

1867. 


Mr  8.  Eh  J 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867,  by 

RUDOLPH    L.  TAFEL, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  the  United  States 
for  the  Northern  District  of  Illinois. 


A 


-7 


CAMBRIDGE: 
PRESS  OP  JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON. 


TO    THE    READER. 


To  remove  the  stigma  cast  upon  a  great  and  honorable 
name,  to  vindicate  a  true  and  holy  cause,  is  a  duty  with  the 
just,  as  it  is  a  privilege  to  the  generous  mind.  That  his 
readers  may  be  enabled  to  perform  this  duty,  and  enjoy  this 
privilege,  the  editor  of  the  present  work  has  undertaken  to 
place  before  them  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  and  the  cause 
which  he  advocated,  in  the  light  in  which  they  appear  to 
those  who  are  entitled,  by  an  honest  and  faithful  study  of  his 
writings,  to  express  the  judgment  which  such  study  alone 
could  render  them  competent  to  form. 

For  more  than  a  hundred  years  the  world  has  freely  heard, 
and  readily  accepted,  the  testimony  of  men  who  knew  neither 
Swedenborg  nor  his  work, — and  has  judged  him  according  to 
this  testimony.  Now,  it  is  asked  to  give  ear  to  the  witness 
of  those  who  do  know  him  and  his  work,  and  who,  from 
knowledge,  are  capable  of  speaking  truly  and  wisely  of  one 
of  the  greatest  and  best,  if  not  the  greatest  and  best,  of 
mortal  men. 

It  is  time  that  this  simple  act  of  justice  should  be  done ; 
that  the  imaginary  picture  of  Swedenborg,  painted  by  men 
who  never  saw  him,  and  who,  if  they  had  looked  upon  him, 
would  still  not  have  seen  him,  should  be  exchanged  in  the 
world's  eye,  for  another  and  truer  one ;  which,  however 
defective  in  its  representation  of  the  whole  man,  is  yet  faith- 
ful to  as  much  as  has  been  seen  of  him, — and,  possibly,  as 
could  be  seen  of  him, — by  minds  so  far  removed  from  the 
majesty  of  his  intellectual  proportions.  To  this  end  the  editor 
has  endeavored  to  bring  together,  and  arrange  in  order,  the 


IV 


TO  THE   READER. 


separate  and  distinct  portraitures  of  Swedenborg  in  his  great 
and  immensely  Taried  mental  activity  and  labors,  as  a  re- 
former of  science  and  philosophy, — which  have  been  drawn 
by  men  here  and  there,  who  have  had  visions  more  or  less 
distinct  of  his  noble  form  and  magnificent  outlines.  And  he 
freely  declares  his  belief,  that  the  scientific  mind  of  the  age, 
however  sceptical  it  may  be,  when  it  looks  upon  him  as  here 
portrayed,  cannot  fail  to  recognize  his  great  importance  to  its 
own  work ;  nor  escape  the  conviction, — on  evidence  which 
only  wilfulness  can  reject, — that  a  vast  deal  of  the  superior 
light  of  this  enlightened  century  is  contained,  in  nuce,  in  his 
writings,  published  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

He  is  well  aware  that  the  larger  number  of  the  men 
of  science  of  this  day,  are  not  prepared  for  the  science  of 
Swedenborg.  But  he  is  equally  well  aware  that  they  will 
never  be  prepared  so  long  as  they  remain  in  bondage  to  their 
senses,  and  prefer  to  be  instructed  by  dumb  facts,  rather  than 
that  higher  reason  by  which  alone  the  human  understanding 
can  be  enlightened.  The  unmeaning  objections,  the  perver- 
sions, and  prevarications,  which  have  thus  far  succeeded  in 
preventing  the  superior  light  of  Swedenborg's  philosophical 
teachings  from  reaching  the  facts  of  the  day,  surely  cannot 
avail  much  longer  to  hide  it  from  the  eyes  of  men, — con- 
firmed as  it  is  by  the  thoughtful,  sober  wisdom  of  a  century, 
enffaffed  in  examining  and  scanning  the  claims  of  this  illus- 
trious  philosopher. 

The  fact  must  be  palpable  to  every  unprejudiced  reader 
of  the  Second  Part  of  this  work,  that  many  of  the  most  notable 
discoveries  of  modern  science,  which  constitute  the  boast  and 
glory  of  our  present  century,  are  found  not  only  foreshadowed, 
but  even  distinctly  announced  in  Swedeuborg^s  scientific 
writings.  And  all  real  and  earnest  seekers  after  truth  must 
be  convinced  that  Swedenborg's  philosophical  and  scientific 
theories  are  a  new  quantity,  which  henceforth  must  enter 
into  the  calculations  of  scientific  men,  if  they  wish  to  keep 
pace  with  the  movement  of  the  age.  If  science  refuses  to 
acknowledge  the  claims  of  Swedenborg,  a  new  rival  school 


t 

i 


TO   THE   READER.  V 

will  inevitably  arise,  which,  untrammelled  by  the  cumbrous 
apparatus  and  learned  formulae  of  a  merely  sensual  science, 
will  carry  facts  to  that  higher  rational  level,  where  Sweden- 
borg has  unfolded  his  systems  and  theories. 

To  the  men  of  progress  especially,  who  are  willing  to  follow 
into  a  new  world  of  principles,  disclosed  by  the  rational  induc- 
tions of  this  truly  great  man,  we  would  recommend  a  careful 
study  of  his  philosophical  and  scientific  works.  They  will 
find  there  some  of  their  noblest  aspirations  realized. 

Our  object  in  preparing  the  present  Volume,  was  not  so  much 
to  urge  upon  the  learned  the  claims  of  Swedenborg  as  the  first 
expounder  of  theories  that  have  since  been  adopted  by  science ; 
but  rather  to  enable  them  to  share  our  conviction  that  his 
philosophical  and  scientific  writings  are  indispensable  to  any 
further  advance  towards  a  rational  induction  of  those  prin- 
ciples which  underlie  all  true  science.  These  works  come 
before  the  learned  not  as  those  of  Leibnitz,  Kepler,  Bacon  and 
Newton.  Theirs  are  merely  works  of  reference,  and  have 
only  historical  value — their  use  in  science  has  already  been 
fulfilled ;  for  the  principles  and  theories  established  by  these 
men  have  long  since  been  absorbed  by  the  sciences,  and  have 
entered  into  their  composition.  But  with  Swedenborg  the 
case  is  essentially  different.  Not  one  of  the  principles  laid 
down  by  him  has  been  adopted  by  science,  or,  if  adopted,  has 
been  'credited  to  him.  It  is  astonishing  how  carefully  men 
have  avoided  even  the  mention  of  him ;  so  that  his  scientfic 
writings  may  be  said  to  come  before  the  learned  of  this  day 
as  though  they  had  been  written  but  yesterday.  And  yet  they 
come  ushered  in  by  that  very  same  science  which  more  than 
a  hundred  years  ago  had  spurned  them ;  and  which  is  now 
compelled  to  acknowledge  that  many  of  the  leading  theories 
and  principles  established  within  the  last  hundred  years  by 
the  combined  labor  of  all  the  scientific  men  of  the  world, 
are  for  the  most  part  literally  contained  in  them,  though  pub- 
lished more  than  a  hundred  years  ago.  Shall  we  wait  until, 
at  the  expiration  of  another  hundred  years,  the  twentieth 
century,  gathering  up  the  theories  and  principles  developed 


\i 


▼1 


TO  THE  READER. 


,y  the  nineteenth,  declares  that  all  ^-^^X^^  C 

''"'^'::TS^^^^^on..il.^r.s  new,  science  cannot  go 
"'  '  T  u  l!nrirs  already  indicated  by  Inn..  They  rest  on 
beyond  the  tj-^^^^^^^,  i^^.table,  because  they  are 
pHnc:ples  wh  eh  a-  fi™        ^^^^^  .^  .^  ^^.^_^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^^^ 

true ;  and  the  more  oi  however,  as  it  ignores 

H  draws  to  these  prmc.pWs      So^^n  ^^^^^^  ^^^^,^^  ^.^ 

his  work,  and  plods  on  m  its  o    ,  j^^^asurably  in 

,,htand  ^^^:^Z:^^  between  the  sensual 
advance  of  it.     ihe  ^^^^^^  ^^^^^^s  to  be  imbued 

:^:t^^  --  -->'  --  --^ "  "-'-^  ^""^ 

a  great  gulf  Axed.  .-g^iution  is  requisite  to  enable 

^'°  rr  TL  iUus  ous  of  the  senses,  and  to  place  faith 
one  to  shake  off  the  Uus.o  ^^^^^  .^^^^  .^  ^^^^^^^ , 

-  the  -=^72^"     T^  without  resolution,  and  it  cannot 
but  men  of  science  are  ^^^^  ^^^^^  ,g 

but  be  that  many^     bejou"  '  w  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^^^^^  ^^  ^^^ 

distinctly  presented  fo-"  J^  ^  °  ;  ^^^, 

theirbelief  to  reason  raAer  than  to  ^^^  ^^^^^^_ 

For  such  the  scientific  ''o^^s  oi 

With  a  firm  faith  ^^^t^^:^;.^^  of  Swe- 

its  representatives    °    "^^  ^"^j^  ,,  ^.e  use  which  will  be 

denborg,  trusting  ^^^f f""^  .,.^^  of  this  century,  the  next 

made  of  them,  tha   at  the  «P-;^^°  .^  f„,  having  "  bound 

,ni  not  rise  «P  >n  ^"^^-rVhrf  lould  have  put  it  out  to 
up  its  talent  in  a  napkin,    when  ^   ^   ^^ 

usury. 

Si.  Loms,  January  29,  1867. 


W 


f" 


i« 


4 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS 


PART    I 

EMAinJEL  SWEDENBORa  AS  THE  PHILOSOPHER.  ^^^ 

I.    Swedenborg  in  Advance  of  his  Age        .        •        •        •        ^ 
n.    His  Greatness 

III.  His  Character ^^ 

IV.  His  Style ^^ 

V.    His  Science ,i     ^  * 

VI.    Importance  of  his  Physiological  Works,  especially  for 

the  Medical  Profession        ...••• 

VII.    Importance  of  the  Physical  and  Mineralogical  Works  of 

Swedenborg 

.,1  ...     loJs 

VIII.    His  Philosophy 

IX.    His  Theology ; 

X.    The  published  and  unpublished  Scientific   and  Philoso- 

phical  Works  of  Swedenborg ^^^ 


PART    II. 
EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG  AS  THE  MAN  OF  SCIENCE. 
Introduction 

I. 


Swedenhorg's  Theories  of  Form, 


1.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Spiral  Form 

2.  The  Doctrine  of  Leasts 


221 


.     223 
.    229 


Vlll 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


II. 

Swedenhorg^s  Physiological  Theories,  and  Anatomical  Discoveries. 

Page 

1.  Introduction 234 

2.  The  Vitality  of  the  Blood 236 

3.  The  Motion  of  the  Brain 237 

4.  The  Moving  Powers  employed  in  the  Circulation  of  the  Blood  238 
6.   Endosmosis  and  Exosmosis     . 239 

6.  Swedenborg's  Theory  of  Respiration      .         .         .         .         .  240 

7.  The  Poramen  of  Monro 242 

III. 

Swcdcnhorg^s  Chemical  Tlieories. 

1.  Science  of  Crystallography 244 

2.  Relation  of  Water  to  the  Salts,  Acids  and  Bases    .        .         .  245 

3.  Swedenborg's  Theory  of  the  Actives,  Finitcs,  and  Elements 

of  Creation 251 

(a)  The  Simple,  or  Natural  Point 252 

(b)  The  First  Finite 253 

(c)  The  First  Active  and  Second  Finite        ....  254 

(d)  The  First  Element  out  of  which  Suns  and  Stars  are 

formed 255 

(e)  Other  kinds  of  Actives,  Finites,  and  Elements        .         .  256 

4.  The  Compound  Nature  of  Atmospheric  Air   .         .         .         .  257 
6.   The  Composite  Nature  of  Water 268 


IV. 

Swedenborg's  Magnetic  Tlieories. 

1.  The  Law  of  Magnetic  Intensity 278 

2.  Mean  Latitudinal  Positions  of  the  two  Magnetic  Poles  and 

Equator 280 

3.  Southern  Magnetic  Axis  longer  than  the  Northern         .         .     282 

4.  The  Revolution  of  the  North  Magnetic  Pole  speedier  than 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


r 


that  of  the  South  Magnetic  Pole 


283 


IX 


Page 


5.  The  Attractive  Force  of  the  South  Magnetic  Pole  greater 

than  that  of  the  North  Magnetic  Pole         ....    285 

6.  Identity  of  the  Magnetic  Streams  forming  the  Aurora,  and 

those  influencing  the  Magnetic  Needle        ....    286 

7.  The  Northern  Light  and  Magnetic  Storms     ....    288 

8.  Professor  Gauss's  Theory  Identical  in  Principle  with  Sweden- 

borg's Magnetic  Theory 291 


V. 

Swedenior^s  Astronomical  Tlieories. 

1.  Introductory  Notes 295 

2.  The  Cosmical  Structure  of  the  Starry  Heavens     .        .        .  298 

3.  Translatory  Motion  of  the  Stars  along  the  Milky  Way  .         .  301 

4.  The  Sun's  Position  among  the  Stars 308 

6.   The  Stability  of  the  Solar  System 310 

6.   Nebular  Theories  of  Swedenborg  and  La  Place     .        .        .  313 

(a)  History  of  Nebular  Theories 313 

(b)  Comparison  of  Swedenborg's  and  La  Place's  Theories    .  316 

(c)  Origin  of  Rotary  Motion,  according  to  La  Place     .        .317 

(d)  Swedenborg's  Theory  discussed 320 

(e)  Formation  of  the  Solar  Mass  or  Sun  from  Nebulous 

Matter .  322 

(f)  Formation  of  the  Solar  Crust,  and  its  Disruption  into 

Planetary  Bodies 324 

(g)  Distribution  of  Orbs  in  the  Solar  System        .        .        .  326 


PAET  I. 


EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG   AS   A   PHILOSOPHER. 


I. 


SWEDENBORG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE. 


1.  "  Every  new  age  has  distinctive  scenery,  features  and 
views,  with  prominent  aspirations  and  hopes  uprising  above 
the  ordinary  level,  and  dimly  undulating  the  distant  horizon, 
thereby  forming  the  culminating  point  of  man*s  intellectual 
progress.  He,  therefore,  who  first  approaches  and  attains 
this  summit,  is  in  advance  of  his  age,  and  can  behold  there- 
from the  distinctive  features,  views,  and  scenery,  beyond  and 
appertaining  to  the  next  age  ;  but  which  will  be  presented  to 
and  cover  the  forthcoming  field  of  view.  Such  a  one,  in 
advance  of  his  fellows,  was  Emanuel  Swedenborg.  We 
need  not  wonder,  then,  at  his  having  sketched  out  so  faithfully 
the  religious  and  scientific  views  of  the  new  era  now  dawning 
upon  us :  we  need  not  Avonder  that,  waiting  our  approach  to 
the  same  eminence,  he  calmly  sat  down  (Prinjcipia,  Part  III. 
Appendix*)  to  record  the  neio  views  on  the  next  field  of 
vision,  then  never  dreamt  of,  but  now  familiar  to  us,  and  to 
sketch  out  that  new  horizon  for  mankind  Avhich  ere  long,  as 
we  advance,  will  loom  into  being." — Samuel  Beswick,  the 
Commentator  of  Swedenhorg's  '^  Principia,"  in  ^'Intellectual 
Repository;'  for  1850,  p.  213. 

2.  "  One  hundred  years  ago  Emanuel  Swedenborg  lived, 
wrote  and  died.  He  made  no  noise  in  the  Avorld  ;  he  did  not 
thrust  himself  prominently  forward ;  he  labored  quietly,  firmly, 


*  This  extract  will  be  found  at  large  in  our  n.  60.— Editor. 


2         SWEDENBORG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE. 

•Hlncrlv  .     The  truths  he   taught,  unheeded  in 

?.,i  L*  .p™.  fro",  ■»....  »  n,ou,.,  from  h-i*' •» 

^1  XT-       If"     T  W  Fletcher,  </ie  author  of '' Hie  J^ame 

"  Sioedenhorg"  1859,  p.  1. 

3     « .  r™</.  is  s^ronj  and  WK  prevaiL'     There  are  always  a 

the  tnun,  auu  iv.ti,v^jr  ti.pro  were,  even  m 

.0  follow  whithersoever  it  leads      ^<^J^^^^;^^  j„,,, 
Swedenborg's  h^tun  ,-n^cn    too  o_^^„   ^^^    ^^^^^  ^^.  ^^^ 

:I':JZ^l^f"^^  ^  -r  Chief  source 

^°'  ^^^^<^:sJ:^l^^^^  ^^  the  view  gener- 
g,vmgtokenof  achan     ,  .  ^^^^^^^^^  ^^_.^  ^^^^„^ 

ally  entertained  of  this  author.  ^^^_ 

surprise  and  a<J--»'-  ^^^^^Sh  wonder  "that  they  had 
tempt ;  the  earnest  searchers  f°'  "^  intellectual  and  the 
not  been  directed  to  th.sl,gM  before      th  ^  ^,  .^^^^  ^^, 

learned  are  astomshed  J^^'^hn  intellect  and  learning ;  and 
writer,  w-ho  far  ^^'^  ^^^"^^^^^^^^  „ames  are  beginning  to 

the  admirers  and  <^^'''°2nd  Iv.utnre  the  prediction  that, 
admit  his  into  t^eir^^^-     And  -  v^^  ^^^  ^^  J;„^,^  ,,pi„,ed, 

ZLZot2ll  i're  thoroughly-as  the  world  grows 


SWEDENBORG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE. 


3 


wiser  and  better — as  the  darkness  of  old  error  passes  off,  and 
the  light  of  truth  increases — the  name  of  Swedenborg  will 
shine  the  brightest  in  the  whole  galaxy  of  great  names,  and 
his  memory  be  revered  as  that  of  the  most  powerful  and  most 
useful  of  all  human  instruments  whom  heaven  has  raised  up, 
to  communicate  truth,  goodness,  and  happiness  to  mankind." 
— From  a  Memoir  by  the  Rev.  O.  Prescott  Hiller. 

4.  From  the  ^^  Intellectual  BeposUory"  London,  March,  1857. 
"  It  has  been  the  fate  of  all  great  and  original  minds  to 
suffer  obloquy  and  contempt  from  the  people  of  their  own 
generation,  and  of  several  generations  after  them.  Galileo, 
Newton,  [Kepler,]  and  others  have  had  this  obloquy  cast  upon 
them,  and  have  for  a  time  been  treated  with  oblivious  con- 
tempt. But  now  such  names  shine  in  the  horizon  of  science 
and  literature  as  stars  of  the  greatest  magnitude.  Sweden- 
borg, it  was,  a  potiori,  from  the  extraordinary  originality  of 
his  ideas,  to  be  expected,  would  be  treated  in  a  similar  manner. 
Swedenborg  himself  well  knew  this,  and  therefore  prefixed  to 
his  '  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom '  the  following  from 
Seneca : — 

"'Paucis  natus  est,  qui  populum  aetatis  suaecogitat:  multa  an- 
norum  miUia,  multa  populorum  supervenient :  ad  ilia  respice,  etiamsi 
omnibus  tecum  viventibus  silentium  .  .  .  [aliqua  causa]  indixerit : 
venient,  qui  sine  offensa,  sine  gratia  judicent.* 

"  Which,  being  interpreted,  means  that  '  the  author  is  born 
but  for  few,  who  considers  only  the  people  of  his  own  age. 
Many  thousands  of  years  and  generations  of  people  will 
come  in  succession.  Let  him  look  to  those  ;  although  some 
cause  or  other  should  impose  silence  upon  all  who  live  in  the 
same  age  with  him.  Generations  will  come  who  will  judge 
without  offensive  prejudice,  and  without  prejudicial  favor.' 
How  truly  this  old  saying  of  Seneca  is  coming  to  pass  in 
respect  to  Swedenborg !  Many  are  now  inclined  to  judge  of 
him  'without  offensive  prejudice,  and  without  prejudicial 
favor.* " 

5.  "  I  have  often  thought  of  writing  a  work  entitled,  '  A 
Vindication  of  Great  Men  Unjustly  Branded,'  and  at  such 


y 


/ 


4         SWEDENEOBG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE. 

.•  nn.on<r  tbe  names  prominent  to  my  mind's  eye  have 

times,  among  tne  u^uik    ,  romcmber  nothing  in 

u    „  Emanuel  Sivedenborg.     1  rcmeroui-i  n 

can  venture  to  as.erMhat  as  .  p     ^ogist,   and 

5  T";  hehasttron'and  varied  claims  on  the  gnUitudc 
rr-'-Slhtpr^ssionalandphiiosopJ^^^^^^^^^ 
!!samueZ  Taylor  Coleridge,  Uterary  Bemarns,  Vol.  IV.  p. 

e.   « I  have  gone  through  some  parts  of'  -^^^^ 

'•-^ '•  tt  rdVrrmiTd  oT^^ij.;  ii  p.«^e. 

surprised  to  fiacl  how  ine  u  ^.^^^ 

when  he  did.     1  hope  uio  '^  ,       |.  extending 

"    o  ,  t  ,o       "  T  nm  siirnrised  at  tne  great 

In  another  letter  he  says,—    i  am  snip 

knowledge  displayed  by  "f  ^^.J^J t^  J^to^  have 
fessed  metallurgist  would  not  ^ave  been  s  IP 
made  an  object  of  study,  and  m  wheh,  as  xn  all 
he  was  in  advance  of  his  age." 

7    From  Douglas  Jcrrold;s  Magazine,  \Si5.       ^ 

»tr:^'J  :rr>..t; ..  f ---r sir:;-;: 


SWEDENBORG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE.         5 

esteemed  visionary,  his  scientific  were  thrown  by  as  rubbish. 
How  false  this  decision  is  may  be  proved  by  the  slightest 
reference  to  his  scientific  works  (now  in  course  of  able  trans- 
lation) ;  and  the  exactitude  and  mathematical  clearaess  of  his 
reasoning  powers  must  be  acknowledged,  when  it  is  known 
that  he  introduced  to  his  country  the  first  knowledge  of  the 
differential  calculus." 


8.    From  Fraser^s  Magazine,  Feb.  1857. 

"  It  is  impossible,  in  the  present  state  of  mental  science  and 
religious  philosophy,  to  arrive  at  any  quite  satisfactory  theory 
of  Emanuel  Swedeuborg.  This  inexplicability  would,  of 
itself,  render  him  an  interesting  phenomenon  in  an  age  which 
understands  so  well  as  ours  does,  that  the  proper  study  of 
mankind  is  man  ;  but  there  are  other  and  better  reasons  why 
all  persons  professing  to  be  '  well  informed,'  should  have  given 
at  least  a  passing  glance  at  this  extraordinary  personage — the 
'  man  of  ten  centuries,'  as  Coleridge  has  called  him,  and  has 
thereby  made  unexamining  ridicule  of  his  life  and  writings 
simply  impertinent. 

"  Probably  not  one  in  fifty  of  our  readers  has  ever  read  a 
book  of  Swedenborg's.  One  of  the  advantages  of  anonymous 
writing  is,  that  '  we '  may  confess  to  having  done  queer  things. 
For  example,  we  admit  tliat  we  have  carefully  read  and  re- 
read some  six  or  seven  of  the  fifty  or  sixty  of  Swedenborg's 
octavos,  each  of  which  is  a  good  week's  work.  The  result 
has  been  a  conviction  that  far  more  of  our  modern  light  has 
come  from  Swedenborg  than  the  world,  which  enjoys  it,  has 
in  general  any  idea  of.  In  this,  as  in  many  other  cases,  the 
light  which  has  notably  helped  to  change  the  face  of  the 
moral  and  intellectual  world,  has  not  reached  it  directly  at  all, 
but  only  by  reiterated  reflection  and  refraction,  like  the  rays 
of  the  sun  in  a  clouded  spring. 

"  A  few  of  the  most  original  of  recent  great  men — ^Words- 
worth, Coleridge,  Flaxman,  and  Blake,  among  others — have 
admitted  openly,  or  betrayed  in  their  works  unmistakably,  a 
direct  acquaintance  with  the  Swedish  mystic's  writings.' 


» 


1* 


6 


SWEDENBORG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE. 


9.   From  Boston  Medical  and    Surgical  Jouimal, 

for  April,  1846. 

"  From  the  evideDces  presented  iQ  this  great  work,  ('Animal 
Kingdom/)  it  is  clear  that  Swedeuborg  was  neither  under- 
stood nor  appreciated  in  his  own  age,  and  he  certainly  is  not 
in  our  own.  His  researches  in  Vol.  II.  are  exceedingly  pro- 
found. Teeming,  as  the  elementary  works  of  anatomy  do, 
with  curious  and  striking  descriptions  of  individual  organs, 
and  physiological  deductions,  we  have  seen  nothing  superior  to 
this  learned  author.  He  has  laid  all  nature  under  severe 
contribution,  and  left  nothing  of  much  importance  to  be 
detailed  in  regard  to  the  subjects  discussed  in  this  bibliographi- 
cal monument  of  personal  industry,  and  truly  scientific 
research." 

In  a  later  number  we  read, — "  Without  fear  of  contradic- 
tion, we  honestly  say  that  Swedenborg,  as  a  physiologist  and 
natural  philosopher,  is  either  not  known  or  appreciated  by 
those  who  have  access  to  his  works,  or  a  studied  injustice  still 
keeps  him  from  being  acknowledged,  universally,  one  of  the 
most  extraordinary  men  that  have  appeared  since  the  dawn  of 
true  science." 


10.  Mr,  George  Dawson,  M.A.,  of  Birmingham,  who  is, 
or  was,  reckoned  about  the  best  of  the  English  lecturers,  had 
been  lecturing  on  Swedenborg,  in  the  Manchester  Athenceum, 
one  of  the  first  literary  institutions  in  Great  Britain,  over 
which,  at  successive  anniversaries,  Mr.  Dickens,  Mr.  Sergeant 
Talfourd,  Mr.  D'Israeli,  and  Lord  Morpeth  have  been  pre- 
siding. The  following  notices  of  his  lectures  on  Swedenborg 
appeared  in  the  Manchester  Guardian,  January   16  and  23, 

1847  :— 

"  In  commencing  his  first  lecture,  Mr.  Dawson  observed 
that  in  this  instance  he  had  some  advantages  over  those  he 
possessed  in  considering  the  other  characters.  It  might  be 
said  of  the  lectures  he  had  already  delivered,  (on  Carlyle, 
Cromwell,  etc.,)  that  he  was  merely  adding  his  small  meed 
of  praise  to  some  men  who  had  been  already  praised  ;  but  the 
man  whom  he  was  to  consider  that  night  was  one  of  whom 


SWEDENBORG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE.         7 

almost  total  ignorance  prevailed.  He  met  in  society  with  few 
men  who  knew  anything  of  Swedenborg,  except  those  who 
honor  him,  and  bear  his  name.  Indeed,  he  remembered  no 
case  where  a  man  had  written  works  so  important,  or 
exercised  an  influence  over  the  chosen  few  so  great,  of  whom 
the  people  were  so  entirely  ignorant.  Having  given  a  brief 
notice  of  the  life  of  Swedenborg,  Mr.  Dawson  proceeded  to  a 
consideration  of  his  writings,  observing  that,  in  all  his  works, 
there  would  be  found  a  resolute  attempt  to  press  into  the 
unknown,  laying  this  down  as  one  of  the  distinctive  marks  of 
true  wisdom  in  a  man.  His  aim  appeared  to  be  to  use  his 
insight  into  nature,  that  he  might  penetrate  thereby  nearer  unto 
the  Maker  of  nature,  and  by  the  contemplation  of  the  pure,  not 
only  as  it  exists  in  nature,  but  in  the  Divine  mind,  be  elevated 
into  that  morality  which  Pythagoras  calls  divinity.  The  great 
effort  for  which  he  struggled  was  to  make  science  religious. 
Philosophy  and  religion  had  been  too  long  separated,  and  made 
distinct.  Swedenborg  turned  to  natural  science,  to  metal- 
lurgy, chemistry,  anatomy,  and  various  other  sciences,  to  see 
whether  they  were  not  one  with  religion.  .  .  .  The 
'Principia'  of  Swedenborg  might  be  ranked  with  the  works 
of  Des  Cartes  and  Leibnitz,  making  for  themselves  a  new 
theory  of  cosmogony.  .  .  .  This  book  had  received  the 
honor  of  being  placed  in  the  Index  Expurgatorius  at  Rome. 

"  At  the  close  of  his  second  lecture,  Mr.  Dawson  observed 
that  all  he  had  done  was  to  rescue  a  man :  neglected,  because 
he  was  not  known,  abused  most  by  those  who  knew  him  the 
least ;  and  to  show  that  this  man,  denounced  as  a  mere 
dreamer  and  enthusiast,  ought  to  be  reconsidered  by  every 
thoughtful  and  studious  man." 


11.  From  The  Critic,  1847,  p.  133. 
"  Few  know  that  Swedenborg  was  a  patient  and  compre- 
hensive investigator,  a  bold  innovator,  a  great  discoverer  in 
almost  every  science,  before  he  appeared  as  a  theological 
reformer.  It  was  only  in  his  fifty-seventh  year  that  those 
fertile  religious  fantasies  began  to  stir  within  him,  which  he 
regarded  as  the  divinest  of  revelations,  whatever  the  opinion 
that  others  might  form  respecting  them.      And  this   alone 


8 


SWEDENBORG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE. 


should  lead  to  much  caution  in  pronouncing  on  his  theological 
tenets  ;  for  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  a  man,  comparable  to 
Leibnitz  in  scientific  acumen,  and  far  surpassing  him  in 
scientific  variety,  should  sink  into  a  dreamer  of  foolish 
dreams,  the  moment  he  ventured  on  the  noblest  subject  of 
human  inquiry.  In  speaking  thus,  we  are  pronouncing 
neither  for  nor  against  Swedenborg's  theology,  with  which  we 
are  very  imperfectly  acquainted,  and  which,  from  the  exces- 
sive voluminousness  of  the  works  containing  it,  does  not  incite 
to  study.  We  merely  contend  that  Swedenborg's  theological 
pretensions  deserve  a  serious  and  tliorough  examination,  on 
the  ground  of  his  scientific  eminence,  if  on  no  other  ;  and  that 
so  philosophic  a  mind  should  not  be  brushed  contemptuously 
aside  as  a  visionary  that  stuffed  ponderous  folios  with  his 
hallucinations.  At  all  events,  whatever  the  treatment  that 
his  theological  system  meets  with,  the  time  is  come  when  his 
scientific  experiences  and  theories  m\ist  he  viewed  as  something 
more  and  something  grander  than  cumbrous  incongruities" 

12.  From  the  Monthhj  Review^  for  1844. 
"  Men  of  slender  pretensions,  and  even  those  taking  high 
rank  among  the  peritissimi  of  the  day,  have  been  accustomed 
to  dismiss  with  a  sneer,  or  condemn  with  a  scowl,  all  mention 
of,  or  reference  to,  Emanuel  Swedenborg.  The  enthusiast, 
visionary,  monomane — the  man  who  affected  to  converse  with 
beings  of  another  world — the  cabalistic,  mystic  qui  naviget 
Anticgram  dignus — in  short,  'the  madman  dreamy.'  'A 
person,'  say  they,  '  who  pretended  to  enjoy  intercourse  with 
invisible  beings,  who  affected  to  be  able  to  converse  with  tlie 
spirits  of  the  departed,  and  who  indulged  in  the  delusive 
fancies  of  a  heated,  if  not  distempered  brain,  can  surely  lay 
no  claim  to  the  title  of  a  man  of  science,  or  pretend  to  be 
expositor  of  the  all  but  hidden  laws  of  nature.  It  is  not  con- 
sonant with  the  views  which  we  entertain  of  the  sanity  of 
men's  minds,  to  admit  Swedenborg  among  the  penatcs  of  our 
literary  mythology.  We  can  have  no  feeling  in  common  with 
a  man  who  assumes  the  possession  of  such  superior  gifts,  that 
were  he  indeed  possessed  of  them,  or  did  we  admit  his  pre- 
tensions, we  miist  immediately  j^bandon  all,  or  nearly  all,  the 


SWEDENBORG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE. 


9 


principles  which  have  hitherto  guided  us  in  the  contemplation 
and  study  of  nature,  for  such  a  man  would  be  only  not  a  god 
because  he  is,  or  was,  a  creature.' 

"This,  or  something  like  this,  is  the  opinion  either  expressed 

or  implied  of  most  persons  with  whom  we  have  conversed 

respecting  Swedenborg  and  his  works ;  and  it  is  not  derogatory 

to  us  to  say,  that  until  we   perused  some  of  his  works — such 

is  the  influence  of  early  academic  prejudice — that  we  were 

just  as  much  inclined  to  unite  in  the  general  censure,  as  are 

those  to  whom  we  have  just  alluded.     That  Swedenborg  was 

really  a  learned,  scientific,  studious,  and  highly  gifted  man, 

few  seem  to  know,  and  fewer  stop  to  inquire.     That  he  was 

of  a  highly  respectable  family,    his  father  being  Bishop  of 

Skara,  and  his  mother,  Sarah  Behm,  the  daughter  of  Albert 

Behm,  Assessor  of  the  Board  of  Mines ;  and  that  he  filled 

some  of  the  most  honorable  offices  in  his  own  country,  and 

retired  only  to  London  to  devote  himself  to  his  theological 

pursuits,  are  facts  little  known  even  to  those  whose  business  is 

literature.     Let  it,  therefore,  be  our  duty  on  this  occasion  to 

put  these  facts  fully  before  our  readers,  and  in  the  light  in 

which  we  think  they  ought  to  be  placed,  with  a  view  to  attract 

that  attention  to  the  work,  the  title  of  which  ('  The  Animal 

Kingdom ' )   is  placed  at   the  head  of  this  article,  which  we 

think  its  importance  demands,  and  its  merits  secure."  - 

After  giving  a  very  lengthy  sketch  of  Swedenborg  and  the 
work  before  him,  the  reviewer  says :  "In  conclusion  we 
record  our  opinion,  positively,  and  not  relatively :  wholly, 
and  without  reservation,  that  if  the  mode  of  reasoning:  and 
explanation  adopted  by  Swedenborg  be  once  understood,  the 
anatomist  and  physiologist  will  acquire  more  information^  and 
obtain  a  more  comprehensive  view  of  the  human  body^  and  its 
relation  to  a  higher  sphere,  than  from  any  single  hook  ever 
published;  nay,  we  may  add,  than  from  all  the  books  which 
have  been  written,  (especially  in  modern  times,)  on  physiology, 
or,  as  it  has  been  lately  named,  transcendental  anatomy. 

"  Swedenborg  reasons  not  on  any  hypothesis,  not  on  any 
theory,  not  on  any  favorite  doctrine  of  a  fashionable  school, 
but  on  the  solid  principles  of  geometry,  based  on  the  immu- 
table rock  of  truth :  and  he  must  and  will  be  Considered  at  no 


10 


SWEDENBORG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE. 


distant  period  the  Zoroaster  of  Europe,  and  the  Prometheus 
of  a  new  era  of  reason,  however,  at  present,  the  clouds  of 
prejudice  may  intervene,  or  the  storms  of  passion  obscure  the 
coruscations  of  his  intellect." 

13.  From  Monthly  Magazine,  for  May,  1841. 
"We  would  not  conceal  that  Swedenborg's  merits  have 
been  ridiculously  underrated.  Too  long  has  there  been  a 
fashion,  at  once  unphilosophical  and  irreligious,  of  branding 
with  the  epithets  of  fool,  madman,  impostor,  a  man  of  blame- 
less sanity  and  undoubted  genius,— who,  if  he  lost  anything 
for  himself  by  not  taking  another  path  than  that  he  followed 
so  perseveringly,  yet  made  the  world  a  gainer,  at  once,  by 
putting  it  in  possession  of  his  own  remarkable  case,  and 
by  achieving  the  consummation  of  all  Scientific  Theory, — 
perhaps,  we  might  add,  of  all  inductive  science  whatever." 

14.  "  Hitherto  I  have  known  nearly  nothing  of  Sweden- 
borg ;  or  indeed  I  might  say  less  than  nothing,  having  been 
wont  to  picture  him  as  an  amiable  but  inane  visionary,  with 
affections  quite  out  of  proportion  to  his  insight ;  from  whom 
nothing  at  all  was  to  be  learned.  It  is  so  we  judge  of  extra- 
ordinary men.  But  I  have  been  rebuked  already ;  a  little 
book,  by  one  Sampson  Reed,  of  Boston,  in  New  England, 
which  some  friend  sent  hither,  taught  me  that  a  Sweden- 
borgian  might  have  thoughts  of  the  calmest  kind  on  the 
deepest  things ;  that,  in  short,  I  did  not  know  Swedenborg, 
and  ought  to  be  ready  to  know  him."— Carlyle  in  a  lettei', 
quoted  hy  Dr.  Wilkinson. 

15.  From  the  Southern  QuaHerly  Review,  October,  1843. 

"  There  has  been  a  singular  timidity  evinced,  even  by  bold 
thinkers,  in  respect  to  the  very  perusal  of  Swedenborg's 
works.  They  have  been  read  by  stealth,  away  from  com- 
pany—free from  the  curiosity  of  the  prying  eye.  Persons 
have  been  afraid,  as  if  they  were  engaged  in  some  necro- 
mantic orgies,  to  breathe  a  word  to  their  friends  of  their 
peculiar  and  forbidden  occupation.  They  have  come  to  their 
teacher,  as  Nicodemus  came  to  the  Saviour,  in  the  night-time, 


SWEDENBORG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE. 


11 


and  have  listened  to  his  instructions  with  equal  incredulity 
and  equal  wonder.  The  ridicule  levelled  at  the  celebrated 
Swede,  by  Dr.  Southey,  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago,  in  his  « Espriella's  Letters,'  has  led  many  to  turn  with 
indifference  and  contempt  from  his  works — works  full  of  light 
and  consolation— lest  they,  too,  if  detected  in  their  perusal, 
should  come  in  for  a  share  of  the  sarcasm  of  some  lively  and 
witty  satirist.  The  style  in  which  these  compositions  are 
clothed — in  some  degree  eccentric  and  unique — but  deriving 
its  singularity  rather  from  the  elevated  character  of  the 
subjects  treated  of,  than  from  any  want  of  tact  and  skill  in  the 
writer,  has  deterred  others,  who  have  commenced  the  exami- 
nation of  them,  from  proceeding  much  beyond  the  threshold. 
Prescriptive  authority— educational  biases— pride  of  opinion 
— of  opinions  imbibed  in  other  schools — long  entertained,  and 
mistaken  for  truth — these  have  stood  in  the  way  of  others." 

16.    From  the  Journal  Encydopedique,  Sept.   1,  1785, 

Vol.  VI,  Part  2. 
"  As  Swedenborg,  to  a  profound  and  universal  knowledge, 
joined  the  purest  virtue  and  the  sweetest  manners,  he  might 
be  expected  to  meet  with  detractors ;  he  accordingly  has  had 
them,  and  he  has  them  still.  I  have  often  heard  him  publicly 
decried,  but  always  from  one  of  the  three  following,  motives, 
and  with  the  intention  of  preventing  his  works  from  being 
read.  Some  attributing  everything  to  chance,  and  believing 
in  nothing  but  nature,  are  afraid  that  the  luminous  works  of 
the  greatest  naturalist,  and  the  sublimest  theosophist  that  has 
yet  existed,  would  give  the  last  blow  to  their  tottering  system. 
Others  having  borrowed  from  him  without  acknowledjrin<T  it, 
are  apprehensive  that  if  his  works  should  obtain  more  notice, 
their  plagiarisms  would  be  detected.*  The  third  class,  enjoying 
a  reputation  founded  on  a  false  opinion  of  their  knowledge, 
but  being  unable  to  conceal  their  incapacity  from  themselves. 


*  One  of  the  modern  poets  of  England  (Patmore)  being  upbraided 
for  borrowing  from  Swedenborg  without  acknowledging  it,  we  are 
told,  excused  himself  on  the  plea,  that  "  Where  there  was  so  much  to 
take,  he  did  not  consider  it  a  crime  to  help  himself  to  a  little." 


12 


SWEDENBORG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE. 


dread  the  appearance  of  this  polar  star,  because  it  will 
infallibly  eclipse  them,  and  soon  reduce  them  to  their  just 
estimation."— Marquis  de  Thome. 

17.  In  a  work  entitled  "  Sivedish  Seers  and  Bards"  by 
P.  B.  Atterbom,  himself  a  celebrated  modern  Swedish  poet  and 
professor,  occur  the  following  passages  : — 

"  Several  decades  have  now  flown  by,  since  the  period 
when  voices,  not  proceeding  from  the  circle  of  Swedenborg's 
followers,  were  first  heard  to  pronounce  his  name  with 
distinguished  commendation.  During  this  time,  the  manner 
in  which  he  is  generally  regarded  and  spoken  of  is  pretty 
generally  changed,  and  this  to  his  advantage.  Among  those 
who,  in  judging  of  literary  matters,  possess  any  standing,  or 
are  entitled  to  give  an  opinion,  there  are  now  few,  if  any,  in 
whose  estimation  he  does  not  rank  as  a  great  and  venerable 
genius,  infected  with  many  oddities,  but  not  with  insanity. 

"  One  thing  is  certain,  namely,  that  the  more  we  examine 
his  writings  merely  with  reference  to  philosophy  and  aesthetics, 
the  more  decided  becomes  our  conviction,  that  they  contain, 
mixed  with  much  dross,*  still  more  massive  gold.  Is  it  not, 
then,  time  to  apply  the  apostle's  advice,—'  Prove  all  things ; 
hold  fast  that  which  is  good'?  The  holy  frame  of  mind  in 
which  he  conceived  his  views  of  the  Word,  the  lofty  method 
in  which  he  exhibited  all  the  essentials  thereof,  are  fully 
worthy  of  a  divinely  inspired  seer;  his  'visions,'  or  his 
so-called  memorabilia,  not  unfrequently  vie  in  beauty  with  their 
Biblical  prototypes ;  and  many  of  them,  if  they  had  been 
found  in  the  works  of  Dante,  or  Milton,  would  long  since  have 
been  trumpeted  forth  over  Europe  with  the  most  rapturous 
plaudits." 

18.  "  The  time  has  come  when  every  enlightened  man  and 
woman  ought,  for  their  own  sakes,  to  know  Swedenborg 
and  his  pretensions. 

"  For  consider  the  case.     Here  was  an  author,  flourishing 


See  note  to  No.  G2  of  the  present  volume. 


SWEDENBORG  IN  ADVANCE  OF  HIS  AGE. 


13 


in  the  last  century,  whose  principal  works  were  written  from 
1721-1772,  and  who,  enjoying  at  first  a^ood  reputation  as  a 
scientific  and  practical  man,  saw  that  reputation  gradually 
expire  as  his  own  mind  unfolded  in  his  works,  until  at  length 
he  was  only  known  as  a  visionary,  and  the  fact  of  his  early 
career  was  scarcely  remembered  by  his  few  surviving  contem- 
poraries. There  was  every  reason  why  his  works  died  to  that 
age.  He  had  a  firm  faith,  from  the  first,  in  the  goodness  of 
God,  in  the  powers  of  the  mind,  in  the  wisdom  and  easiness 
of  creation,  and  in  the  immovable  firmness  of  revelation ; 
later  on,  a  belief,  too,  in  spiritual  existence,  in  a  sense  intelli- 
gible to  all  mankind.  In  his  case,  there  was  a  breaking  of 
shell  after  shell, — a  rolling  away  of  delusion  after  delusion, 
until  truth  was  seen  to  be  itself  real — to  be  the  true  creation, 
the  world  above  and  before  the  world,  of  which  mortal 
creatures  are  made.  How  could  so  substantial  a  personage — 
a  man  whose  spirit  and  its  relations  were  a  body  and  a  force 
— be  seen  at  all  in  the  last  century,  when  the  public  wave  ran 
in  spring-tides  towards  materialism,  frivolity,  and  all  conven- 
tionalities ?  The  savage  might  as  easily  value  a  telescope  or  a 
theodolite  as  Europe  estimate  a  Swedenborg  at  such  an  era. 
Accordingly,  in  proportion  as  he  transcended  brute  matter  and 
dead  facts,  he  vanished  from  its  siglit,  and  was  only  mentioned 
with  ridicule  as  a  ghost-seer  —  the  next  thing  to  a  ghost. 
But  how  stands  the  matter  now  ?  The  majority,  it  is  true, 
know  nothing  of  Swedenborg.  .  .  .  But  the  vast  majority 
of  those  who  do  know — and  the  number  is  considerable  in  all 
parts  of  the  civilized  world — regard  him  with  respect  and 
affectionate  admiration  ;  many  hailing  him  as  the  herald  of  a 
new  church  upon  earth  ;  many  as  a  gift  of  the  same  provident 
Deity  who  has  sent,  as  indirect  messengers,  the  other  secular 
leaders  of  the  race, — the  great  poets,  the  great  philosophers, 
the  guiding  intellects  of  the  sciences ;  many  also  still  looking 
towards  his  works  in  order  to  gain  instruction  from  them,  and 
to  settle  for  themselves  the  author's  place  among  the  benefac- 
tors of  his  kind.  We  ourselves  are  in  all  these  classes, 
allowing  them  to  modify  each  other ;  and  perhaps,  on  that 
account,  are  suitable  to  address  those  who  know  less  of  the 

2 


14 


S\7EDENB0RG  IN   ADVANCE   OF   HIS   AGE, 


subject,  for  we  have  no  position  to  maintain,  but  the  facts  of 

the  case. 

"  Now  whence  this  change  in  public  opinion  ?     It  has  been 
the  most  silent  of  revolutions,  a  matter  almost  of  signs  and 
whispers.      Swedenborg's   admirers    have    simply   kept   his 
books  before  the  public,  and  given  them  their  good  word  when 
opportunity  afforded.     The  rest  has  been  done  over  the  heads 
of  men,   by   the   course   of    events,   by  the  advance  of  the 
sciences,  by  our  own  new  liberties  of  thought,  by  whatever 
makes  man  from  ignorant,   enlightened,   and  from  sensual, 
refined  and  spiritualized.     In  short,  it  is  the  world's  progress 
under  Providence  which  has  brought  it  to  Swedenborg's  door. 
For  where  a  new  truth  has  been  discovered,  that  truth  has 
said  a  courteous  word  for  Swedenborg ;  where  a  new  science 
has  sprung  up,  and  entered  upon  its  conquests,  that  science 
has  pointed  with  silent-speaking  finger  to  something  friendly 
to,   and    suggestive    of,   itself  in    Swedenborg ;  where  a  new 
spirit  has  catered  the  world,  that  spirit  has  flown  to  its  mate 
in  Swedenborg ;  where  the  age  has  felt  its  own   darkness  and 
confessed  it,  the  students  of  Swedenborg  have  been  convinced 
that  there  was  in  him  much  of  the  light  which  all  hearts  were 
seeking.     And  so  forth.     The  fact  then   is,  that  an  unbeliev- 
ing  century   could   see    nothing    in    Swedenborg;    that  its 
successor,   more   trustful   and    truthful,  sees  more  and  more ; 
and  strong  indications   exist  that  in  another  five-and  twenty 
years  the  field  occupied  by  this  author  must  be  visited  by  the 
leaders  of   opinion    en  ?nasse,    and   whether  they  will  or  no ; 
because  it  is  not  proselytisn\  that  will  take  them  there,  but  the 
expansion   and   culrrination   of    the   truth,    and   the  organic 
course  of  events."— J.  J.  Garth  Wilkinson,  Ufe  of  Sweden- 
horg,  1849,  Americ.  edit.  pp.  1-3. 


IT. 

SWEDENBORG'S    GREATNESS. 

19.  "Wherever  you  cast  your  eyes — to  the  blue  starry 
heavens  above,  or  the  hard  rocky  earth  beneath,  to  its  atmos- 
pheres, magnetic,  electric  or  aerial ;  to  its  waters  or  its  miner- 
als ;  or  to  the  arcana,  abundant  as  they  are,  of  that  best  and 
most  perfect  organism  in  creation  —  the  physical  constitution 
of  man ;  on  each  of  these  departments  of  physical  creation 
this  unwearied  and  devout  Christian  philosopher  has  left  the 
foot-prints  of  his  presence,  and  has  handed  over  a  legacy  of 
truth,  that  even  now  has  enriched  human  society  to  a  degree 
that  has  oftentimes  called  forth  our  admiration,  though  that 
legacy  be  not  announced  in  the  name  and  under  the  acknowl- 
edged seal  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg." —  Samuel  Beswick, 
the  Commentator  of  Swedenborg* s  "  Principia"  in  "  Intellectual 
Bepository,''  for  1850,  p.  372. 

In  another  place  he  says :  "  During  this  philosopher's  day 
it  was  universally  believed  that  both  air  and  water  were  ele- 
mental substances,  having  nothing  in  common  but  the  general 
characteristics  of  fluidity.  His  penetrating  sagacity,  equal  to 
all  subjects  in  the  wide  field  of  human  inquiry,  and  blessed  as 
it  was  with  suggestive  capabilities  of  a  higher  and  liappier 
kind  than  mortals  are  ordinarily  endowed  with,  not  only  broke 
through  the  spell  of  ages,  and  pictorially  exhibited  the  twofold 
nature  of  each,  but  also  proclaimed  the  identity  of  one  of  their 
elements.  World-wide  as  is  the  just  fame  of  many  distin- 
guished chemical  philosophers,  it  is  a  non-entity  compared  with 
that  which  awaits  the  venerable  Swede.  As  yet  no  monu- 
mental inscription  has  been  raised  to  mark  the  spot  where  his 
bones  are  laid :  better  it  is  that  an  everlasting  memorial  should 
be  deeply  inscribed  on  the  hearts  and  memory  of  men." — Id, 
p.  301. 

(15) 


16 


swedenborg's  greatness. 


Speaking  of  Swedenborg's   contributions   to   astronomical 

science,  he  says  :  — 

"Before  Swedenborg's  time,  creation  was  considered  a 
glot"lar  universe,  bounded  by  the  visible  heavens.  Beyond 
this  there  was  no  creation,  but  the  spiritual  heavens  —  the 
theological  universe.  Within  this  the  material  universe  was 
inclosed,  in  the  centre  of  Avhich  our  solar  system  was  placed ; 
whilst  its  interior  surface  was  our  visible  heaven,  over  whose 
ethereal  vault  were  strewed  in  unnumbered  myriads  the  glim- 
mering lights  of  other  worlds. 

"  Swedenl)org  was  the  first  intellectually  to  break  through 
the  inclosure  of  the  heavens,  and  with  powerful  arm  to  burst 
asunder  its  confines,  to  draw  aside  the  dark  curtain  of  ages, 
to  overthrow  the  barriers  raised  by  ancient  prejudices,  and  ad- 
vance to  some  distance,  though  with  cautious  steps,  over  the 
uncertain   ground  beyond.      With   unwearied   labor  he  had 
essayed  every  probable  path,  and  having  found  the  right  one, 
proceeded  along  to  the  very  gate  of  truth.     Wonderful  indeed 
were  the  results.     At  once,  by  a  single  effort  of  his  genius, 
worlds  innumerable,  in  congregated  spheres,  were  beheld  in 
harmonious  operation,  without  end  or  limit  —  the  boundaries 
of  the  universe,  so  to  speak,  became  to  man  at  once  illimit- 
able ;  and  the  scattering  goodness  of  the  Divine  Hand,  strewing 
mercies  and  blessings  amongst  unnumbered  worlds,  hitherto 
unseen,  unknown,  and  unconjectured,  was  a  scene  worthy  of 
the  Almighty  —  a  prospective  into  a  field  so  entirely  new  and 
unprecedented,  that  ad  niring  millions  are  struck  with  awe  at 
the  Mighty  Power  and  Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom  of  that 
Being  who  moves,  provides  for,  and  supports  the  whole.    It  was 
a  Revelation  of  the  attributes  of  his  Being  and  the  Resources 
of  his  Power,  infinitely  beyond  anything  which  the  wildest  im- 
agination of  the  Atheist  could  ever  have  conceived,  in  demand 
for  evidence  of  his  existence.      Literally,  the  heavens  Avere 
opened  —  that  most  glorious  and  magnificent  region  in  the 
material  universe,  the  Heaven  of  Heavens,  formed,  as  Swcden- 
borg   expresses  it,  of  innumerable   heavens,  in   congregated 
spheres,  beyond  or  outside  our  own  —  was  displayed  first  to 
the  intellectual,  and  subsequently  to  the  ocular  vision,  when 
one  universal  blaze  of  glory  burst   forth  on  the  astonished 


\ 


SWEDENBORG  S    GREATNESS. 


17 


world.  '  Behold  ! '  says  Swedenborg,  on  drawing  aside  the 
dark  curtain  of  ages,  which  had  intercepted  creation  from  the 
view  of  mortals,  '  behold  these  new  walks  of  the  Almighty ! 
Lift  up  your  heads  on  high,  and  behold  Him  traversing  the 
innumerable  spheres  with  the  same  flowing  richness,  beauty, 
and  care  as  is  so  conspicuous  on  this  atom  of  a  world  on  which 
we  dwell.' " 

Listen  to  Swedenborg's  own  w^ords  :  *  "If  all  the  spheres, 
if  all  the  heavenly  hosts  are  not  even  a  point  in  respect  to  the 
infinite  ;  if  the  whole  visible  sidereal  expanse,  which  to  our 
eye  appears  so  immense,  be  only  as  a  point  in  relation  to  the 
finite  universe ;  if  our  solar  system  form  only  a  part  of  the 
sidereal  expanse,  and  our  own  world  only  a  part  of  the  solar 
system ;  truly  we  ask.  What  is  man  ?  Can  he  be  such  a  one 
as  he  feigns  himself  to  be  ?  Vainglorious  mortal,  why  so  in- 
flated with  gfelf-importance  ?  Why  deem  all  the  rest  of  crea- 
tion beneath  thee  ?  Diminutive  worm  !  What  makes  thee  so 
big,  so  puffed  out  with  pride,  when  thou  beholdest  a  creation 
so  multitudinous  —  so  stupendous  around  thee  ?  Look  down 
ward  upon  thyself,  thou  puny  manikin !  behold  and  see  how 
small  a  speck  thou  art  in  the  system  of  heaven  and  earth  ;  and 
in  thy  contemplations  remember  this,  that  if  thou  wouldest  be 
great,  thy  greatness  must  consist  in  this  —  in  learning  to  adore 
Him  who  is  Himself  the  Greatest  and  the  Infinite."  —  Princi' 
pia,  Part  iii.  chap.  i.  n.  11. 

Mr.  Beswick  continues:  "  This  humble  and  devout  philoso- 
pher was  the  first  happy  mortal  on  whom  the  high  duty  de- 
volved of  developing  these  mighty  truths  for  the  benefit  of 
mankind.  He  was  a  suitable  instrument  for  so  glorious  a 
Revelation.  When  the  immensity  of  God's  work,  beyond  or 
outside  the  visible  starry  heavens,  had  thus  been  opened  to 
him,  and,  for  the  first  time  in  human  history,  he  had  gazed 
mentally  on  the  peculiar  mechanism  of  our  own  immediate 
universe;  had  watched  and  measured  the  play  of  its  mighty 
forces ;  had  proclaimed,  after  geometrical  measurement,  the 
precise  system  or  cluster  of  stars  to  which  our  sun's  system 
belongs ;  yea,  had  placed  his  finger  on  the  very  spot  in  that 


2* 


*  Inserted  by  the  Editor. 


18 


swedenborg's  greatness. 


cluster  jive  years  before  Herschel  was  born  ;  all  of  which  we 
have  proved  in  our  articles  not  to  be  questioned.  (See  Chap.V. 
of  our  Second  Part.)  When  they  had  been  accomplished, 
nothing  more,  as  to  universal  principles  and  universal  mechan- 
ism, could  be  revealed  to  or  made  known  by  him,  to  be  useful 
to  mankind  now.  To  progress  further,  the  opening  of  the  in- 
ner universe  to  mental  vision  must  needs  follow.  For,  as  to 
universal  principles  and  mechanism,  he  had  seen  all  that  man 
could  now  see  where  man  doth  dwell.  He  stood  betwixt  the 
darkness  of  the  past  and  the  light  of  the  present,  a  humble 
instrument,  holding  in  his  hands  the  germs  of  those  extraor- 
dinary discoveries  and  revelations  which  even  now  astonish  the 

world 

"  One  thing  is  clear  to  all  who  may  have  carefully  studied 
his  voluminous  writings,  — as  a  child  writing  down  his 
thoui^hts  and  experience,  so  has  he  been  with  regard  to  his 
opini'ons,  and  discoveries,  and  his  almost  universal  experience. 
But  it  is  equally  clear  'the  world  knows  him  not:  "  — Intel- 
lectual  Repository,  1850,  pp.  90-91. 

In  another  place,  where  he  speaks  of  Swedenborg's  discov- 
ery of  the  '' Translatory  Motion  of  the  Stars  in  the  Milky 
Way,"  and  on  comparison  proves  his  theory  to  be  identical 
with  that  now  held  by  modern  astronomy,  Mr.  Beswick  ex- 
claims :  "-  This  contrast  presents  the  two  extremities  of  an 
a^e.     At  its  commencement  all  is  negation.     It  exhibits  the 
Swedish  philosopher  in  bold  and  striking  relief.     Behold  him ! 
he  stands  alone  in  an  age  of  darkness.     In  the  back-ground, 
the  past  is  black  as  night.     It  brings  him  out  like  the  sudden 
apparition  of  a  new  star  bursting  with  glory  and  brilliancy, 
outshines  the  whole  heavens,  as  if  in  advance  thereof.     It  en- 
ables us  to  perceive  that  the  genius  of  Swedenborg  had  trav- 
ersed an  unknown  path  and  explored  an  unknown  region,— 
had  watched  intellectually  the  stars  in  their  magnetic  courses, 
and  followed  them  in  their  revolutions,  and  had  grasped,  with 
almost  superhuman  intelligence,  the  whole  sum  of  this  vast 
starry  universe,  to  make  it  subservient  to  his  thoughts,  long 
before  other  men  even  suspected  the  existence  of  such  transla- 
tory  phenomena.     With  the  striking  theoretical  discoveries 
present  before  the  mind,  who  can  doubt  the  transcendency  of 


swedenborg's  greatness.  19 

his  genius,  or  object  to  his  claims  for  the  highest  order  of  an- 
ticipative  originality?"  — 7(7.  pp.  46^7^ 

20.  "Beginning  at  the  smallest  facts -the  humblest  ap- 
pearances of  nature-he  worked  his  way  up  to  the  crown  and 
coping  stone  and  bowed  with  adoration  in  the  outer  courts  of 
eternity.     He  swept  the  circle  of  the  sciences  with  a  patient, 

unflagging  energy In  his  own  day  he  was  the  leader 

of  his  age -the  captain  of  the  free  lances  who  foucrht  their 
way  .nto  the  citadel  of  truth.     He  is  the  representative  man 
of  that  century -the  shaft  that  was  shot  the  farthest  from  the 
bow:  he  was  the  culmination  of  all  past  truth;  and  in  him 
were  shadowed  forth  the  flashing  glories  of  the  future.     He  is 
the  keystone  of  the  arch  that  connects  the  coming  with  the 
gone:  and  every  advance  in  art,  every  discovery  fn  science 
every  new  phase  of  truth,  every  additional  development  of' 
nature,  as  it  rises  m  orbed  beauty  to  fill  its  place  in  God's 
great  plan  and  universe,  bears  silent  witness  to  the  truth  and 
power  of  him  who  is  one  of  earth's  master-spirits  -  adds  one 

rlir.  T'  ''  '^'  "^'^  '^  ^^'^^  ^^'"^  ^^^  -=--  -e  rearin. 
lound    the    memory    of    Emanuel    Swedenbor-."- J    W° 

i?  LETCHER,  m  his  Lecture  on  '^  Swedenborg^  p.  9,  1859.    '        * 

Jni  /i,^°  T^""*  ^7  ^'^  ^^  *^  ""^^"^  ^^''  wonderful  man? 

clilv  trv  h  ^^r  "'  ''  '^*"  "^^^  ^^"^^^"^^^'  --^  -^Pi- 
wZlrM  N  ""^ '"^y  :'^''''-^^^  -<i  «tillhe  remains-the 
Wonderful.  No  man  whose  name  biography  has  treasured 
demands  a  more  careful  study  than  he.  Fori  but  consider 
him :  his  Learning  was  boundless ;  in  Science  his  knowledge 

ca    .fori?  T^°^'''  ^''^  ^^'^  ^"  '^'  P^^^^^^-^  -d  theoreti- 

cal  worlds;  m  Languages  he  was  erudite.     Who  can  deny 

h  m  a  reach  and  stretch  of  thought  capable  of  measuring.  Jl 

subjects,  and  amplifying  and  illustrating  all.     Is  not  his  /ancy 

amazing  in  its  play  ?     His  poems  -  for  by  this  title  yoi^ 

style  his  Memorable  Relations,  if  you  cannot  call  them  VisTons 

-:  do  they  not  kindle  with  the  true  light  of  genius,  and  flLh 

yth  image  and  description?     This  is  a  Cyclopedic  man  his 


11  ,^ 


'/' 


20  swedenborg's  greatness. 

u  And  yet  you  say  he  is  a  Fanatic What  then,  is  a 

Fanatic^     One  of  the  profoundest  Mathematicians  of  his  age, 
a  deep  and  acute  thinker;  a  subtle  logician;  a  various  and 
JZe  scholar:  above  all,  a  calm  and  most  quiet  bookman 
and  penman,  indisposed  for  any  company  ;  and  never  seen  to 
Irt'the  compan/of  the  ignorant  and  the  vulgar,  ever  the 
resort  of  the  fanatic :  a  man  of  few  words,  until  compelled  to 
talk   or  talking  for  a  purpose;  cool  in  temperament;  never 
rocked  by  passion  or  impulse:  always,  as  far  as  hum.aiity 
can  be,  in  'equilibrium,  weighing  all  his  thoughts  and  all  his 
actions   perpetually  bent  on  giving  reasons  for  thmgs ;  a  man 
Tf  strong  inductive  habits  and  powers,  and  consistent ;  a  whole 
life  of  invariable  rectitude  and  doctrines,  and  principles,  ever 
above  the  hour ;  and  ever  from  the  period  of  his  illumination, 
the  same.  -  Is  this  the  portrait  of  a  Fanatic  ?  .  .  .    ^ 

"Can  the  reader  be  content  to  know  nothing  of  tins  man  . 
Can  he  be  content  any  longer  to  know  him  only  dimly  and  in 
shadow?     Not  that  we  may  hope  at  all  to  comprehend  him. 
He  was  a  Titan,  and  must  take  his  place  among  the  very 
highest  and  widest  minds  of  our  world  ;  his  was  truly  a  Norse 
intellect ;  he  belonged  to  the  wonderful  race  of  Sea-Kings  ; 
he  was  one  of  the  children  of  Odin,  and  we  know  that  race- 
the  writers  and  interpreters  of  the  runes -the  utterers  of  the 
rhythmic  charm.     Always  over  the  Norse  and  Icelandic  mind 
there  had  hovered  the  scenery  of  a  wonderful  spint^and  ;  that 
mind  flames  to  this  day  over  Europe,  in  action,  and  m  con- 
templation.     Who  shall  say  to  what  extent  we  are  indebted  to 
that  mind  for  the  spirituality  of  our  genius,  and  the  sonorous- 
ness  of  our  eloquence,  the  intrepidity  of  our  action,  and  the 
boldness  of  our  conception ;  these  are  the  characteristics  of 
the  Scandinavian  mind.     Swedenborg,  in  the  mightiest  de- 

gree,  inherited  them  all. 

"Sometimes  we  have  thought, of  his  mind -of  its  awful 
solitude  — its  unbroken  and  terrible  remoteness  from  ordinary 
minds.  We  stand  in  awe  of  him  even  yet.  What  subjects 
were  those  on  which  he  daily  conversed  ;  what  realms  were 
those  he  daily  visited  ?  We  are  always  interested  in  the  his- 
tory  and  portrait  of  a  mind  occupying  an  untrodden  territory, 
making  excursions  into  realms  to  which  no  traveller  has  pen- 


SWEDENBORG^S   GREATNESS. 


21 


etrated  —  aland  protected  by  its  solemn  silences  from  win  <»•, 
or  sail,  or  road.  Lone  old  man  !  no  wife,  no  child,  no  rela- 
tive ;  no  friend  does  he  appear  to  have  had ;  he  stood  solitary 
in  mind  and  in  life.  Does  biography  record  another  instance 
of  so  lonely  a  man,  so  secluded  from  the  world,  so  withdrawn 
from  society  ?  Yet  never,  surely,  did  we  know  one  whose 
face  in  solitude  so  repels  our  pity,  whose  loneliness  is  so 
sacred.  This  anchorite  went  up  into  the  high  Himalayas  of 
the  soul.  He  lived  to  pen  and  utter  the  tones  heard  amon^y 
those  Delectable  Mountains. 

"  It  must  ever  be  a  mystery  how,  so  constantly  as  he  was 
travelling,   he   performed  so  much  work;    his  works  would 
stock  a  library,  and  keep  for  some  years  a  most  perse verin'* 
and  megatherian  student  at  work.     But  he  was  ever  moving 
from  place  to  place  ;  discipline  and  order  must  have  charac- 
terized him  in  the  highest  degree.     He  travelled  and  he  ob- 
served constantly,  but  all  the  while  we  feel  that  he  had  no 
part  with  man.     He  knew  what  others  felt,  but  his  feelings  he 
ever  conceals  from  us  —  rather  shall  we  say,  he  does  not  feel, 
and  lias  no  feelings  to  record ;  hence  in  none  of  his  writings 
have  we  any  pathos.      He  transports  himself  from  place  to 
place  on  earth,  from  state  to  state  in  mind,  from  space  to  space 
in  thoughts  and  things  ;  doctrines,  dogmas  and  facts,  glide  be- 
fore us  in  his  pages,  cold  and  clear  as  the  figures  sweeping 
across  the  mirror." — Swedenhorg,  a  hiograph/  and  an  exposi- 
tion, by  Edwin  Paxton  Hood,  author  of  "  The  Age  and  its 
Architects;"  ''Andrew    Marvell;''  "  John  Milton ;"    "Literor 
ture  of  Labor,"  etc.     pp.  157,  169-172. 

22.  Thorild,  a  celebrated  Swedish  poet  and  metaphysician, 
librarian  and  professor  of  the  Swedish  language  and  literature 
in  ine  University  of  Greifswalde,  says  in  the  second  part  of 
hif,  works,  published  in  ^weden,  under  the  head  "  Sweden- 
borg," the  following : — 

"  What  are  we  to  think  of  this  truly  extraordinary  man  ? 
That  he  was  a  fool,  say  those  little  men  whose  good  opinion 
never  did  good  to  any  one.  That  he  was  an  Arch-heretic, 
bawls  Orthodoxy  with  loud  and  ferocious  voice.  What  the 
philosopher  sees  iu  him,  is  a  man  of  vast  and  consummate 


Qo  swedenborg's  greatness. 

learninc-,  at.  honor  and  glory  to  his  nation,  who  preserved  the 
venerX  for  his  genius  by  the  truly  apostolical  simplicity  and 
purity  of  his  morals." 

23    "  Tliere  is  not  in  history,  there  is  not  in  any  century,  a 
moreremarkable  man  than  Swedenborg,  under  the  aspect  of 
the  development  of  certain  faculties  of  the  soul ;  and  in  spUe 
of  all  that  he  has  written,  or  that  has  been  written  about  him, 
there  is  no  man  that  still  offers  to  criticism  a  more  worthy 
Idy.     According  to  that  kind  of  history  which  the  great 
iud4  of  the  last  century  called  the  '  commonly  received  fable, 
Swedenborg  is  a  dreamer,  a  visionary,  a  wealc  or  sxckhj  mind, 
the  mistaken  dupe  of  his  own  illusions.    Such  is  the  universaUy 
circulating  picture   and   judgment    concerning  Swedenborg. 
Now,  the  'commonly  received   fable'   has   no  doubt  some 
reasons  for  its  existence,  but  it  is  not  history. 

"  In  the  whole  of  the  last  century  which  produced  so  many 
eminent  men,  there  is  not  one  that  was  more  vigorously  con- 
stituted as  to  body  and  mind  than  Swedenborg ;  and  there  is 
not  one  who  was  a  more  industrious,  more  honest,  more 
learned,  more  ingenious  .and  more  fertile  writer,  and  a  more 
lucid  teacher.  Not  one  in  the  whole  of  that  century  wliere 
Rousseau  proclaimed  himself  to  be  as  virtuous  ^«/°y  °"'«' 
man,  was  better  than  Swedenborg,  nor  more  beloved,  and 

'"'"^fwas  going  to  say  there  were  few  richer  in  honors, 
money  and  ideas.     But  this  would  not  be  a  source  of  merit 
only  a  happy  condition.     In  order  to  convince  yourself  that 
such  was  the  condition  of  Swedenborg,  you  need  but  read  h.s 
writings,  and  study  his  life,  which  manifest  to  tlie  whole  world 
his  virtues  and  scientific  treasures."-M.  Matter,  Honorary 
Counsellor  of  the  University,  formerly  Inspector-General  of  the 
Public  Libraries,  &c.,  in  his  work  -  Emmanuel  de  Swedenborg, 
sa  Vie,  ses  Ecrits  et  sa  Doctrine.   Paris :  Didier  &  C".   Libraire 
Academique.    1863.   pref.   pp.  vi.,  vii." 

In  another  place  he  says,  "  Swedenborg  might  have  be- 
come  a  member  of  all  the  academies  of  Europe  if  he  had 
sou.'ht  for  these  honors ;  but  he  informs  us  himself  that  he 


swedenborg's  greatness. 


23 


V 


never  took  any  steps  in  order  to  belong  to  any  learned  body. 
Essentially  independent  by  fortune  and  character,  loving  work 
for  its  intrinsic  attractions,  and  not  appreciating  distinctions 
which  encroach  however  little  upon  our  liberties,  Swedenborg 
explored,  worked  and  published  by  himself  like  an  entire 
academy,  and  he  assigned  to  himself  scientific  missions,  as 
princes  are  wont  to  do,  but  he  did  not  crave  the  distinctions 
which  he  thought  would  naturally  follow  as  their  conse- 
quences."— D.  32. 

24.     From  the  "  Medical   Critic  and  Psychological  Journal*^ 

for  October,  1861,  Art.  VI. 

"  In  the  whole  range  of  modern  biography  there  is  no  life 
of  greater  interest  to  the  medico-psychologist  than  that  of 
Emanuel  Swedenborg.  His  writings  constitute  a  splendid 
monument  of  the  extraordinary  intellectual  powers,  the  un- 
tiring assiduity,  and  the  lofty  religious  fervor  of  the  man.  As 
a  philosopher  he  will  always  occupy  a  conspicuous  and  honor- 
able position  in  the  history  of  modern  philosophy,  and  as  a 
theologian  he  gave  birth  to  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
developments  of  Christianity  in  modern  times." 


25.  "  There  is  one  genius,  who  has  done  much  for  this 
philosophy  of  life  (t.  e.,  exploring  the  near,  the  low,  the 
common),  whose  literary  value  has  never  been  rightly  esti- 
jnated ; — I  mean  Emanuel  Swedenborg.  The  most  imagina- 
tive of  men,  yet  writing  with  the  precision  of  a  mathematician, 
he  endeavored  to  ingraft  a  purely  philosophical  ethics  on  the 
popular  Christianity  of  his  time.  Such  an  attempt,  of  course, 
must  have  difficulty  Avhich  no  genius  could  surmount.  But  he 
saw  and  showed  the  connection  between  nature  and  the  affec- 
tions of  the  soul.  He  pierced  the  emblematic  or  spiritual 
character  of  the  visible,  audible,  tangible  world.  Especially 
did  his  shade-loving  muse  hover  over  and  interpret  the  lower 
parts  of  nature;  he  showed  the  mysterious  bond  that  allies 
moral  evil  to  the  foul  material  forms,  and  has  given  in  epical 
parables  a  theory  of  insanity,  of  beasts,  of  unclean  and  fearful 


SWEDESBOBCi'S   GREATNESS. 


swedenbokg's  greatness. 


25 


24 

.  •       "  »     E.I.PH  Wai-t^o  Emerson,  in  an  Oration  delivered 
le;;:-..!  pS  S  Karpa  Society,  at  Ca^nUidr,  August  31, 

^^^^-        u        1  .„  ho  says    "His  (Swedenborg's)  writings 
In  another  place  hsa)s  J      ^^^  ^^^^^^^.^  ^^ 

wouUl  be  a  sufficient  I'bmry  to  ^  ^  ^^.^  ^^^ 

Not  every  man  can  -f  ,f '7' .^"'„*k,s  the  grandeur  of  the 
can.  Tl>e  grandeur  of  *«;°f;^',™;tlLs  of  literature,  he 
,.yle.  One  of  the  ""-— le'^C  of  ordinary  scholars. 
is  not  to  be  measured  by  ^^»'°'<'^''  J  „f  .^e  merits  of  his 
No  one  man  is  perhaps  ^^^^^    o  ^^^.^e^o^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^,^^^^^ 

.orks  on  so  -J"y  ;"^^\^^'    „t,,  ,,„t.,y,  anticipated  in   as- 

""^'  rtrdil'yof^"  seventh  planet;  anticipated  the 
troiiomy  the  discovery  generation  of 

essential  «-f  -'^    ' '  J^ 'f,  J^Ti^  their  law,  in  likeness  of 
man  who  budt  It.     He  saw  thin  s  ^^„,„^  ^„a 

^"f'^^triryThis^rX  tirhahitual  proceeding  of 
order  in  Ins  deli\ery  oi  i  earnestness  and 

the  mind  f--  -7;';;^.;™;  without   one    swell   of 
::S;,r;;;tok^:oXn'auy^ommon  form  o.Uterary 

..foul  material  forms"  whic^  are      ^"f  ,,„gMcd  in  the 

contrary,  it  seemed  to  us  *!"»  ^'^  ""       ^^^j^  ^f  his  wonderful  epio 

-      description  of  celestial  f-^i  7!^^;*  cason  why,  in  his  illustrations 

..  The  Worship  and  Love  of  God.    J-  ^  ^„i  fo^ms,  he  was 

tit- r;.:S-:™i"  "i  z ...  r„ .. ..«. 

bears  w'tn^     of  our  sunken  human  nature. 


pride !  A  theoretic  or  speculative  man,  but  whom  no  practi- 
cal man  in  the  universe  could  afford  to  scorn.  Plato  is  a 
gownsman :  his  garment,  though  of  purple  and  almost  sky- 
woven,  is  an  academic  robe,  and  hinders  action  with  its 
voluminous  folds.  But  this  mystic  is  awful  to  Caesar. 
Lycurgus  himself  would  bow." 

And  again,  "  Swedenborg's  'Economy  of  the  Animal 
Kingdom '°is  one  of  those  books  which,  by  the  dignity  of 
thinking,  are  an  honor  to  the  human  race.  ...  He  is 
systematic  and  respective  of  the  world  in  every  sentence :  all 
the  means  are  orderly  given ;  his  faculties  work  with  astro- 
nomical punctuality,  and  his  admirable  writing  is^pure  from  all 
pertness  or  egotism.  ...  His  varied  and  solid  knowledge 
makes  his  style  lustrous  with  points,  and  shooting  spicula  of 
thought ;  resembling  one  of  those  winter  mornings  when  the 
air  sparkles  with  crystahr-'Bepresentative  Men. 

26.     "Swedenborg,   by  hereditary    disposition,   by    early 
training  and  habit,  was  studious  and  laborious  in  an  eniinent 
degreed    His  mind  was  intensely  active  in  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge  on  all  subjects  ;  no  branch  of  science  or  knowledge 
'escaped  his  attention,  or  surpassed  his  powers  of  investigation. 
Gifted  with  an  ardent  love  of  learning,  carefully  instructed 
and  trained  in  the  best  of  schools,  and  wisely  encouraged  and 
directed  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  his  understanding. was 
gradually  developed  and  expanded  in  directions  which  are  but 
seldom  found  in  combination  in  the  same  mind.     .    .    .     We 
find  in  him  a  quality  of  analysis,  so  searching  and  discrim- 
inative, as  to  be  altogether  microscopic  in  its  character  and 
application,  united  to  a  most  wonderful  power  of  generaliza- 
tion.    By  these  faculties  of  his  mind  he  was  enabled  to  order 
and  arrange  all  the   particulars  of  scientific   discovery  and 
rational   deduction,   into   the   harmonious   forms   of   general 
systems ;   and  by  a  clear  analytic  and  synthetic  comparison 
of  every  whole  with  its  parts  and  of  the  parts  with  the  whole, 
as  well   as   of  the   analogies   existing  between   the   various 
systems  and  their  component  members,  to  deduce  the  laws 
of  order  governing  each,  and  so  to  communicate  a  rational 
idea  of  their  several  uses,  and  of  their  relation  to  the  uni- 
3 


26 


swedenborg's  greatness. 


• 

versal  use  of  creation.  By  these  means  he  accomplished 
what  was  never  done  before,  and  what  has  never  been  done 
equally  well,  if  at  all,  since  his  day ;  he  brought  the  sensual 
scientific  principle  into  harmony  with  the  rational,  and  thus 
opened  science  to  the  light  of  reason,  or  elevated  it  mto^  its 
true  position,  as  the  servant  of  a  rational  philosophy.  — 
Rev.  W.  H.  Benade,  Report  on  the  Nature  of  Swedenhorg  s 
Illumination, 

27.    From  the  Corsair,  1839,  New  York. 
"  Emanuel  Swedenhorg  was,  and  the  reader  ought  to  know 
it,  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  respectable  of  men.     He  was 
also  more  than  this.     He  was  deeply  versed  in  every  science 
—a  first-rate  mechanician   and   mathematician— one  of  the 
profoundest  of  physiologists— a  great  military  engineer   .    .    . 
—a  great  astronomer— the  ablest  metallurgist  of  his  time,  and 
the  writer  of  vast  works,  which  even  at  this  day  are  of  sterling 
authority  on  mining  and  metals.     Then  he  was  a  poet,  and  a 
master  of  ancient  and  modern  languages,  and  a  metaphysician 
who  bad  gone  through  all  the  mazes  of  reflective  philosophy, 
and   clone" besides  what  metaphysicians  seldom  do,  for  he  had 
found  his  way  out  of  the  mazes,  and  got  hack  to  realiiy  again. 
In  short,  as  far  as  natural  sciences  go  (and  we  include  among 
them  the  '  science  of  the  mind'),  it  is  much  more  difficult  to 
say  what  he  was  not,  than  what  he  was, 

'^  He  was  fifty-five  years  in  being,  and  doing  the  things  we 
have  just  recorded.     Having  thus  laid  an  immense  basis  for 
his  mind  in  nature,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  actual,  and  yet 
only  a  basis,  he  now,  like  a  stately  pyramid,  rose  into  the  ideal. 
He  pierced  through  the  cloudy  curtains  of  Space  and  Time. 
Nature  became  to  him  but  the  mantle  of  living  souls,  giving 
fixed  images  to  the  Reason,  and  distinctness  of  object  to  the 
Will.     The  whole  of  his  theological  works,  which  have  con- 
signed him,  for  the  present,  to  a  neglect  he  anticipated  and 
h^d  no  care  for,  were  now  produced.     The  spiritual  world 
was  the  olject,  as  well  as  the  subject  of  his  thought,  and  this 
produced  what  may  be  called  the  Realism  of  his  Psychology. 
In  his  mind,  Imagination  and  Sentiment,  properly  so-called, 
had  no  place,  but  instead  of  Imagination  there  was  Reason 


swedenborg's  greatness.  27 

producing  itself  in  images ;  instead  of  Sentiment,  affections 
torming  themselves  into  Reasons.  Hence,  there  is  at  once 
the  greatest  boldness,  and  the  greatest  method  in  his  thou-hts 
—one  startling  proposition  developing  itself  after  another,  °and 
each  coming  forth  by  the  most  fixed  rules  of  genesis— a  super- 
ficial  formality,  an  internal  freedom." 

This  article  was  reprinted  from  the  ''London  True  Sun," 

^S,    "Of  Swedenhorg  himself,  there  should  be  but  one 
opinion.     He  was  a  man  of  prodigious  genius.     ...     As  a 
philosopher,  he  was  distinguished  for  perceiving  identity  or 
sameness  in  things,-for  his  insight  into  the  '  fine  secrets  that 
little  explains  large,  and  large  little  ; '  his  doctrine  of  scale  or 
degrees  ;  his  belief  in  the  symbolical  meaning  of  the  universe  ; 
and  that  a  dread,  necessary,  noiseless  morality  pervades  it  all' 
from  the  minutest  to  the  largest  objects.     He  was  in  a  certain 
sense  a  seer,  but  of  those  broad  principles  which  constitute  the 
trunk   and   branches   of  the   tree   of  the   world."~GEORGE 
Gilfillan,  Christianity  and  our  Era :  A  Booh  for  the  Times 
Edinburgh,  1857. 

29.   From  the  National  QuaHerly  Review  for  March,  1865. 
^  "  It  is  well  known  that  the  earlier  period  of  Swedenborg^s 
hfe,  when  men  are  most   liable  to  be  led  astray  by  their 
imaginations,  was  devoted   to   chemical,  mathematical,  and 
philosophical   researches,  which   must   have   effectually   pre- 
cluded all  vagaries ;  nor  did  his  illumination  commence  until 
he  had  established  a  literary  reputation  so  irreproachable  that 
his  assertions  were  accepted  as  truth.     If  we  regard  him  as 
an  impostor,  his  whole  life  is  a  living  refutation  of  the  accusa- 
tion.    That  a  man  so  unobtrusive,  so  regardless  of  honor  and 
wealth,  should  have  imposed  upon  the  credulity  of  friendship 
falsehoods  which  could  in  no  way  subserve  his  interest,  would 
be  a  phenomenon  witliout  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
If  we  question  his  sanity,  we  are  met  by  the  assurance  that  in 
all  cases  the  insane  are  found  incapable  of  prolonged,  con- 
nected mental  effort,  so  that  the  books  Swedenhorg  Avrote,  the 
languages  he  learned,  the  correspondence  he  has  lift,  all  bear 
conclusive  evidence  that  his  mental  powers  were  unimpaired. 


28 


swedekborg's  greatness. 


In  -B-hatever    aspect  we  regard    this    man,   he    is    stiU    a 

mystery."  ,   , .        .  „_ 

After  giving  an   account  of  Swedenborg,  and  his  mmor 

philosophical  works,  the  writer  proceeds :— 

"  All  these  testimonials  of  Swedenborg's  mental  wealth 
seem  to  have  dropped  from  his  overburdened  pen  rather  as 
a  relief  to  his  own  intellectual  plethora,  than  from  those 
ambitious  aspirations  that  are  supposed  to  inspire  most  authors. 
He  is  a  wise  man  who  can  render  himself  necessary  to  his 
superiors  by  being  useful  to  his  equals.  Swedenborg  seldom, 
if  ever,  solicited  patronage,  nor  docs  he  appear  to  have  given 
much  thought  to  liis  literary  productions  after  having  prepared 
them,  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow-men. 
Fortunately,  thev  fell  at  the  feet  of  an  appreciating  public, 
creatin-  for  him  an  edal,  despite  his  modesty,  making  him 
noble  against  his  democratic  will.  Various  and  brilliant  as 
these  labors  had  been,  they  were  but  the  lesser  pyrotechnics 
with  which  he  attracted  the  attention,  not  only  of  Sweden,  but 

of  all  Europe."  .     , 

Speaking  of  his  "  Opcro  PMlosophka  et  Mmerdogica,    he 

**  "^in  this  work,  sparkling  throughout  with  mental  brilliants, 
Swedenbor"  has  vindicated  his  claim  to  an  intellectual  peer- 
age, and  is  supposed  to  have  originated  many  discoveries  in 
philosophy,  wliich,  owing  to  his  works  being  at  one  period 
much  neglected,  have  not  been  attributed  to  him.     In  it  he 
endeavors  to  unlock  the  mysteries  of  the  causes  and  origin  of 
the  phenomena  of  the  universe,  asserting  that  in  all  her  opera- 
tions nature  is  governed  by  one  general  law,  and  is  always 
self-consistent ;  while  experience,  the  power  of  arrangement, 
and  the  ability  to  reason  are  sufficient  to  enable  us  to  solve 
her  most  intricate  problems." 

Of  the  "  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,"  he  says  : — 
"Whether  or  not  we  endorse  the  conclusions  which  his 
subtle  reasonings  led  him  to  embrace,  we  cannot  but  admire 
the  unflinching  temerity  of  mind  and  purpose  with  which  he 
plunges  into  the  labyrinth  of  symbols,  and  endeavors  to  wrest 
from  heaven  the  secrets  of  the  soul." 


swedenborg's  greatness. 


29 


30.   From  the  Family  Herald,  London 

whi^ff  '%°°V'k''  '^  r^'^'^^^'^S^  *he  immeasurable  talent 
whHjh  he  (Swedenborg)  has  displayed  in  his  most  voluminous 
writings  which  form  a  little  world  of  themselves,  sufficient  to 
occupy  the  whole  life  of  any  ordinary  man,  merel^  to  di  eov  J 
their  contents  and  analyze  their  doctrines 

"  His  works  seem  to  be  boring  their  way  even  into  Catholic 

The  Book  of  Tears,  lately  published  by  the  AbhS  Constan    de 

Baneour  we  find  the  following  sentence :  '  We  may  venture 

o  say  that  the  problen,  is  already  solved,  and  that  the  whJe 

truft   IS   found  ,a   the  writings  of  the   admirable   Sweden- 

31.    Frovi  the  Southern  Quarterly  Review,  October,  1846 
of  that  extraordinary  man,  Emanuel  Swedenborg.-certainlv 

the  earth.  Seventy-four  years  have  elapsed  since  his  death 
This  period  has  constituted  the  mere  sunrise  of  his  fame-the 
dawn  of  a  meridian  splendor  that  is  yet  to  bless  the  nations. 
By  his  far-seemg  contemporaries  he  was  considered,  and  was 
pronounced  and  justly  too,  the  greatest  man  of  hi;  couZ 
and  age  whether  regard  were  had  to  the  herculean  powers  of 
mmd  with  which  Providence  had  endowed  him,  his  laborLus 
researches  into  the  mysteries  of  the  universe    his  pinrnd 

as  those  of  the  ancient  philosophers,  the  light  whicli  he  shed 
over  every  known  department  of  science  by  his  fearless  invls- 

beauty  of  a  lifo  sanctified  by  the  sincerest  piety,  and  -lowin" 

Cv  %T:'  '"•  ™";  '''"''"-''  andU'natingii;! 
thropy.     No  author,  since  the  discovery  of  the  art  of  printin<r 

many  books-or  so  many  good  ones-books  that  will  survive 
the  wreck  of  an  ephemeral  literature  and  a  transient  theologl' 
and  will  exercise  a  benign  and  ennobling  influence  on  The 
successive  generations  of  men,  whatever  language  they  may 


28  swedenborg's  greatness. 

In  -nhatever    aspect  we   regard    this    man,   he    is    still    a 

""aS' giving  an   account  of  Swedenborg,  and  his  minor 
philosophical  works,  the  writer  proceeds  :— 

"  All  these  testimonials  of  Swedenborg's  mental  wealth 
seem  to  have  dropped  from  his  overburdened  pen  rather  as 
a  relief  to  his  own  intellectual  plethora,  than  from  those 
ambitious  aspirations  that  arc  supposed  to  inspire  most  authors. 
He  is  a  wise  man  who  can  render  himself  necessary  to  his 
superiors  by  being  useful  to  his  equals.  Swedenborg  seldom, 
if  ever,  solicited  patronage,  nor  does  he  appear  to  have  given 
much  thouMit  to  his  literary  productions  after  having  prepared 
them,  to  till  best  of  his  ability,  for  the  benefit  of  his  fcUow-mcn. 
Fortunately,  thev  fell  at  the  feet  of  an  appreciating  public, 
creatine  for  him  an  eclat,  despite  his  modesty,  making  him 
noble  against  his  democratic  will.  Various  and  brilliant  as 
these  labors  had  been,  they  were  but  the  lesser  pyrotechnics 
with  which  he  attracted  the  attention,  not  only  of  Sweden,  but 

of  all  Europe."  , 

Speaking  of  his  "  Opera  Philosopluca  et  Mineralogica,    he 

"in  this  work,  sparkling  throughout  with  mental  brilliants, 
Swedenbor-  has  vindicated  his  claim  to  an  intellectual  peer- 
age, and  is"  supposed  to  have  originated  many  discoveries  in 
philosophy,  which,  owing  to  his  works  being  at  one  period 
much  neglected,  have  not  been  attributed  to  him.     In  it  he 
endeavors  to  unlock  the  mysteries  of  the  causes  and  origin  of 
the  phenomena  of  the  universe,  asserting  that  in  all  her  opera- 
tions nature  is  governed  by  one  general  law,  and  is  always 
self-consistent ;  while  experience,  the  power  of  arrangement, 
and  the  ability  to  reason  are  sufficient  to  enable  us  to  solve 
her  most  intricate  problems." 

Of  the  "  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom"  he  says  : — 
"AVhether  or  not  we  endorse  the  conclusions  which  his 
subtle  reasonings  led  him  to  embrace,  we  cannot  but  admire 
the  unflinching  temerity  of  mind  and  purpose  with  which  he 
plunges  into  the  labyrinth  of  symbols,  and  endeavors  to  wrest 
from  heaven  the  secrets  of  the  soul." 


swedenborg's  greatness. 


29 


30.  From  the  Family  fferald,  London 
"  We  cannot  refuse  to  acknowledge  the  immeasurable  talent 
wh^h  he  (Swedenborg)  has  displayed  in  his  most  volumrnous 
writings  which  form  a  little  world  of  themselves,  sufficient  to 
occupy  the  whole  life  of  any  ordinary  man,  merely  to  di  col  r 
their  contents  and  analyze  their  doctrines 
"  His  works  seem  to  be  boring  their  way  even  into  Catliolic 

The  Book  of  Tears,  lately  published  by  tlie  Abbe  Constan  de 
Bancour  .y.ina  the  following  sentence:  '  V7e  may  ven  „re 
to  say  that  the  problem  is  already  solved,  and  that  the  whi 
trua   ,s   found  m   the  writings  of  the   admirable   Swit 

31.    From  the  Southern  Quarterly  Review,  October,  1846 
of  that  extraordinary  man,  Emanuel  Swedenbor.,_certiinlv 

the  earth.     Seventy-four  years  have  elapsed  since  his  death 

daw  r'^'T^  ""  •»*''-°  ^™"-  °f  >•-  f^-e-S^ 

Bv  11;'  ""  'P'""'"""  *'"'  •«  y^'  *°  Mess  the  nations. 

By  his  far-seeing  contemporaries  he  was  considered,  and  was 
pronounced  and  justly  too,  the  greatest  man  of  hi  couZ 
and  age,  whether  regard  were  had  to  the  herculean  powers  of 

r"      rt:  ^r'!"''^,^-''^--  -'1  -lowed  him,  his'lab     o„ 
researches  into  the  mysteries  of  the  universe,  his  profound 
biowledge  o    human  nature,  acquired  in  travels  as  exten  ive 
as  those  of  the  ancient  philosophers,  the  light  which  he  shed 
over  every  known  department  of  science  b/his  fcarles    inves- 

eC:"oValY"°°':-f  i''""'''™^'  •"•  «-"^'  '•>«  —rug 

beauty  of  a  hfo  sanctified  by  the  sincerest  piety,  and  ..lowing 

th  on       t^'f  ""  ""''  ^"'^--S-l  -'1  fascinating°Xn- 
thropy.     No  author,  since  the  discovery  of  the  art  of  print. n. 

many  books-or  so  many  good  ones-books  that  will  survive 
successive  generations  of  men,  whatever  language  they  may 


30 


SWEDENBORG*S   GREATNESS. 


speak,  and  wherever  and  whenever  they  may  appear,  to  take 
their  place  and  act  their  part  on  the  great  theatre  of  life. 

"Who  ever  thought  so  profoundly  on  great  and  noble 
themes  as  Swedenborg  ?  What  patriot  was  ever  more  just, 
generous,  considerate  and  active  ?  What  merely  finite  human 
being  was  ever  so  highly  favored  by  the  Almighty  ?  Illustri- 
ous sa^e  !  A  true  saint  !  if  there  ever  was  a  saint,  and  yet 
one  who  never  desired  to  be  canonized.  An  apostle  of  truth, 
but  one  whose  message,  unfit  for  the  market-place,  was  never 
heard  in  louder  tones  than  in  those  of  a  deep  and  solemn 
conviction — a  co-worker  together  with  the  Creator  in  the 
achievement  of  the  grandest  designs  of  Providence,  but  who 
regarded  the  title  of  His  servant,  if  justly  acquired,  the  highest 
glory  to  which  man  can  aspire.  The  fame  of  Bacon  and 
Newton  and  Locke — of  Milton  and  Shakespeare  and  Scott, 
pales  and  grows  dim  before  the  brighter  glory  that  clusters 
around  the  name  and  acts  of  this  renowned  individual !  They 
acquired  distinction  for  the  splendor  of  tlieir  success  in 
particular  departments  of  inquiry,  and  in  certain  spheres  of 
intellectual  labor,  but  it  was  reserved  for  the  more  fortunate 
and  celebrated  Swede  to  master,  not  one  science,  but  the 
whole  circle  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  to  understand  and 
reveal  the  gi-eat  connecting  links  that  subsist  between  mind 
and  matter,  time  and  eternity,  man  and  his  Maker,  in  a  far 
clearer  manner,  than  any  of  the  most  gifted  and  inspired  of  his 
predecessors. 

"  The  world  may  be  challenged  in  vain  to  produce,  in  the 
history  of  any  single  individual,  such  a  combination  of  gigantic 
and  well-balanced  powers  of  mind,  with  such  vast  and  mag- 
nificent attainments  of  all  sorts.  If  TuUy  w\as  thought  to 
have  bestowed  high  and  immortal  praise  on  the  great  Plato 
for  saying  that  he  brought  down  philosophy  from  the  skies  to 
dwell  among  men  amid  cool  and  shady  retreats,  where,  in 
fact,  it  has  been  sullied  and  profaned  by  human  passions,  how- 
much  higher,  and  how  much  more  immortal  praise  belongs  to 
Swedenborg,  who,  with  the  spirit  of  an  angel,  has  carried 
philosophy  up  to  the  skies,  the  birth-place  and  home  of  the 
just,  where  it  glitters  all  over  with  the  beautiful  and  brilliant 
rays  that  emanate  from  the  Sun  of  Righteousness !    Proceeding 


swedenborg's  greatness. 


31 


from  the  outer  and  earthly,  he  has  penetrated  to  the  inner  and 
heavenly  worlds  proper  to  man,  has  revealed  their  mysteries, 
and  promulgated  the  laws  of  the  great  Legislator  which 
govern  them.  The  whole  universe,  in  its  general  aspects,  is 
the  object  of  his  meditations  and  study,  and,  not  omitting 
particulars,  he  finds  as  profound  and  beautiful  significance, 
and  sees  as  speaking  a  manifestation  of  the  power  and  love 
of  the  great  Creator  in  the  pebble  on  the  sea-shore,  or  the  leaf 
that  waves  in  the  breeze,  as  in  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude 
that  decks  the  firmament.  He  did  not  look  upon  the  world 
around  him  with  the  eyes  and  feelings  of  ordinary  men.  AVith 
religious  veneration,  and  in  the  spirit  of  a  true  philosophy,  he 
at  all  times  connected  the  finite  with  the  infinite,  and  saw  in 
everything  that  exists  in  the  animal,  the  vegetable  and  the 
mineral  kingdoms  of  nature,  as  well  as  in  that  kingdom  which 
is  above  nature, — the  spiritual, — some  image  or  shadow  of  a 
great  and  Divine  Providence." 

32.    "  Swedenborg,  as  we  shall  presently  show,  makes  great 
demands  on  our  faith,  but  none  on  our  charity.     In  the  great 
and  glorious  roll  of  worthies  who  have  ennobled  humanity, 
there  is   no  one  that  recurs  to  our  memory  just  now  wlio  can 
stand  a  criticism  with  less  fear  of  the  ordeal  than  he  can. 
Newton  is  a  giant  in  science,  but  an  old  woman  in  theolo^^v : 
and  if  report  speaks  truly,  not  free  from  a  moral  weakness 
and  timidity.      Bacon,  the  prince  of   philosophers,  has  his 
fingers  tainted  with  corruption,  which  always  makes  us  sad 
when  we  think  of  it.     And  what  shall  we  say  of  others — of 
the  fierce  language  of   Milton  and  Luther,  or  the  dark  and 
damning  deed  of  Calvin,  to  say  nothing  of  the  failings  of 
Byron,  Coleridge,   Dryden,   or  Cranmer.     We  excuse   these 
men  on  account  of  the  age  in  which  they  lived,  the  circum- 
stances by  which  they  were  surrounded,  the  force  of  human 
passion,  and  the  weakness  of  our  common  humanity.     Even 
prophets  and  apostles  make  these    appeals  to  our   sense  of 
justice,  or  our  feeling  of  compassion.     But  you  may  lay  all 
this  aside  when  you  come  to  Swedenborg.     Measure  him  as  a 
man  of  science  with  Newton,  and  you  will  find  him  his  equal 
in  point  of  intellectual  greatness.     With  Bacon  and  Plato  he 


32 


SWEDENBORG's   GREA.TNESS. 


is  great,  amongst  the   greatest  of  the  philosophers.      With 
Boerhaave  and  Haller,  he  is  in  the  first  rank  of  the  physiolo- 
gists.    With  the  theological  writers  and  Bible  commentators, 
from  Origen  to  Adam  Clarke,   and  who  has  equalled  him? 
All  this  is'^easily  conceived  and  said,  but  who  shall  picture  the 
innocence  and  purity  of  his  life,  the  sublimity  of   his  moral 
nature,  the  simplicity  of  soul  which,  whilst  believing  himself 
to  be  the  chosen  messenger  of   Heaven  and  the  companion 
of  angels,  left  the  company  of  the  great  and  learned,  sat  quietly 
to  think  and  write  in  his  study,  or  walked  into  Cold  Bath 
Square  to  chat  with  the  children.     The  resigning  of  one-half 
of  his  pension,  and  retiring  from  the  brilliant  and  fascinating 
society  of  Court,  is  one  of  the   finest  instances  of  contented 
greatness   that   the    world   has   ever   seen,   and  can  only  be 
paralleled  in  Shakespeare's  going  home  to  Stratford-upon-Avon 
with  his  well-earned  modest  competence." — John  Mill,  M.D., 
in  a  lecture   "On  the    Claims  of   Swedenborg,"    delivered  in 
London^  1857. 

33.    From  the  "Idler,"  for  June,  1856  :  London. 
"  Whatever  may  be  our  opinion  of  his  doctrines,  we  cannot 
avoid  revering,  if  not  loving  the  man  :  so  simple,  yet  wise  ;  so 
humble,  yet  gifted  ;  so  intensely  devoted  to  the  service  of  God, 
and  so  sincerely  anxious  to  aid  in  the  salvation  of  men.     The 
remarkable  industry  of  his  life,  the  wonderful  variety  of  his 
knowledge,  the  acuteness  of  his  intellect,  the  grandeur  of  his 
imagination,  and  the  strange  passage  of  his  soul  through  so 
many  varying  moods  of  thought,  make  him  truly  a  wonder 
among  men.     How  wide  the  sweep  of  his  mind,  how  power- 
ful  his   gi-asp    over    scientific     thought,     how    brilliant   his 
speculations  in  those  theologic  domains  which  he  has  rendered 
so  peculiarly  his  own  !  " 

34.  From  Fraser's  Magazine,  February,  1857. 
"  Heaven,  or  at  least  as  much  as  our  liearts  can  contain  of 
it,  is  revealed  to  us  in  the  visions  of  childhood  and  of  early 
love.  .  .  .  Men  of  genius  seem  to  be  those  who  have  been 
happy  enough  to  retain  rtiore  than  others  have  retained  of  this 
'  ori<»inal '  virtue  and  intuition,  and  who  have  preserved  in 


swedenborg's  greatness. 


33 


their  lowest  ebbs  of  spiritual  life,  and  in  their  highest  crises 
of  material  enjoyment  and  activity,  an  inviolated  faith  in  that 
heaven  which  '  lies  about  us  in  our  infancy,'  and  of  which  the 
commonly  very  faint  recollection  constitutes  a  chief  mean 
whereby  we  are  enabled  to  apprehend,  and  raise  to  the  force 
of  a  motive,  an  idea  of  the  heaven  beyond  the  grave. 
Swedenborg,  far  beyond  all  modern  men,  seems  to  us  to  have 
preserved  in  his  heart  and  spirit  the  wisdom  of  childhood  ;  the 
wisdom  which  even  those  who  have  denied  and  despised  it  in 
themselves,  delight  to  recognize  and  to  re-appropriate,  as  fiir 
as  possible,  when  they  hear  it  boldly  spoken  by  the  man  of 
genius." 


35.   "  Swedenborg  was  not  so  much  a  scientific  man,  as  a 
man  thoroughly  master  of  the  sciences.     In  Anatomy  and 
Piiysiology  he  deserves  the  appellation  of   a   Raphael  or  a 
Stoddart.  ^  Everything  he  knew   ministered   to    his   sublime 
Art.     It  might  be  said  of  him  that  he  had  been  carried  out, 
like  Ezekiel,  in  the  spirit  of  the  Lord,   and  set  down  in  the 
midst  of  the  valley  of  dry  bones,  and  that  he  had  been  com- 
manded to  prophesy  and  say  unto  them,— '  Behold,  I  will 
cause  breath  to  enter  into  you,  and  ye  shall  live  ! '     He  seems 
to  have  instinctively  felt,  what  a  French  author  remarks,— 
that  the  Church,  which  at  first  contained  all  the  elements  of 
social   life,   had   gradually   become    unpeopled  —  that   every 
century  had  seen  a  multitude  leave  the  sanctuary  under  some 
particular  banner ;  and  that  every  schism  was  summed  up  in 
that   greatest    and    hitherto   most  irreconcilable   of  all— the 
schism   and   defection   of    science.      For   he   now   began   to 
observe  that  those  who  never  accepted  anything  but  what  they 
could  really  understand,  were  all  gone  astray,  and  were  hourly 
sinking  deeper  in  the  terrible  negation  of  spiritual  things." — 
E.  Rich,  a  Sketch  of  Swedenborg  and  his  Writings.     Americ. 
edit.  p.  49. 

36.   From  the  Veterinary  Record,  April,  1845. 
"  It  may  be  observed  that  Swedenborg's  '  Animal  Kingdom,' 
although  differing  ^0^0  ca2?o  from  the  'Bridgewater  Treatises,* 
is  an  endeavor  to  show  '  the  Power,  Wisdom,  and  Goodness 


34  swedenborg's  greatness. 

of  God'  as  displayed  in  the  organic  <^^^::;^:S. 
this  end  Swedenborg  has  investigated,  on  entirely  f 

are  attributable  to   man ,    ana  lo   na 

n         1  ,.-;^iom    nnd  nower  themselves,     in  nne, 

views  of  j]joodness,  wi&dom,  anci  pu^^  p    ,i    •    ,   u,,*  m 

rirk  Is  not  an  atte.npt  to  lead  men  out  of  athe^n  bn^  to 
lift  them  above  theism  into  revealed  rdujion.  In  this  it  dittcrs 
eslentl^ly  from  every   other    treatise  of  apparently  s.m.lar 

^tnlr-lme   subject,  says    the    editor   of   the   MontUy 

Magazine:—  ■ -^.^^uv     accordin.'  to   Swedenborg, 

u  Revelation  and    P^'l'^'^P'^y.'    ^''^"/'^"r^We  of  perceiving 

could  never  be  contranous      Man  is  -pah  P  ^^^^.^^,^, 

•  ri"^:irrsr%::;::d:r  ^  why  reasons 

gil  to  mi:  is,  '  that  he  may  perceive  that  God  is,  and  know 
that  he  ought  to  be  worshipped.'  ' 

37  »  It  is  futile  to  assert  that  philosophy  is  not  connected 
^in!"theio.?;  since  the  contrary  is  demonstrated  by  Sweden- 
:  :  a  tlri;  as  any  law  of  matter  is  demonstrated  by 
Ston  For  Swedenborg  took  facts  representing  integ.al 
it  re  ;nd  investigated  them,  and  the  order  and  mechanism 
o  tr  cture,  and  the  pervading  use  or  function,  -.fou^  to 
be  such  as  in  every  case  to  furnisli  truths  -^'^'-S  °  ^  .™°  ^ 

c        ^      Tii^u  WIS  the  ijisue  ot  a  scientnio 
or  social  existence  of  man.      ilus  A\as  ui«  k» 

;  oce^,  from  which  imagination  was  r^o-ously  excU^^^^^^ 
What  inference  is  possible  but  that  the  inner  P-^-oJ^^^^^^^^^^ 
represent  humanity  ;  such  representation  being  ^1^^;^"^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
Z  of  thin..?  It  was  not  Swedenborg  that  made  the 
tlwlblenell  in  the  two  co-ordinates  ;  he  -e^y^^^^^^^^ 
what  existed  already.*     Bacon's  hypothesis  that  final  causes 

*»  Swedenborg  appears  to  have  been  ^;--|^^.  ^f  j)"^J,\'^^ 
result.    In  treating  of  the  kidneys  CAmmal  Kingdom,    Part  I.  n. 


SWEDENBORG*S   GREATNESS. 


35 


have  no  place  in  the  doctrine  of  nature,  was  overthrown  by 
this  result ;  for  the  mechanism  of  those  causes  was  explained, 
and  the  connection  between  spirit  and  nature  stood  intuitively 
demonstrated  therein.  Neither  did  'the  doctrine  of  final 
causes  turn  out  to  be  barren,  as  Bacon  imagined  ;  for  the  end 
of  creation  being  no  longer  a  bodiless  figment,  but  consisting 
of  the  noblest  organic  creatures,  it  furnished  the  most  power" 
ful   of    analytic   organs   for   arming   the   mental   sight,    and 


293,)  he  has  the  following,  which  exhibits  somewhat  of  the  naivete  of 
one  who  has  come  upon  a  truth  unexpectedly  :— 

*293.  As  the  blood  is  continually  making  its  circle  of  life,  that  is 
to  say,  in  a  constant  revolution  of  birth  and  death;  as  it  dies  in  old 
age,  an  J  is  regenerated  or  born  anew ;  and  as  the  veins  solicitously 
gather  together  the  whole  of  its  corporeal  part,  and  the  lymphatics, 
of  its  spirituous  part ;  and  successively  bring  it  back,  reflect  it  with 
new  chyle,  and  restore  it  to  the  pure  and  youthful  blood;  and  as  the 
kidneys  constantly  purge  it  of  impurities,  and  restore  its  pure  parts 
to  the  blood;— so  likewise  Man,  who  lives  at  once  in  body  and  spirit 
while  he  lives  in  the  blood,  must  undergo  the  same  fortunes  generally, 
and  in  the  progress  of  his  regeneration  must  daily  do  the  like.  Such 
a  perpetual  symbohcal  representation  is  there  of  spiritual  life  in  cor- 
poreal life ;  as  Ukewise  a  perpetual  typical  representation  of  the  soul 
in  the  body  (u).  In  this  consists  the  searching  of  the  heart  and  reins, 
which  is  a  thing  purely  Divine. 

'  (u)  In  our  Doctrine  of  Representations  and  Correspondences,  we 
shall  treat  of  both  these  symbolical  and  typical  representations,  and 
the  astonishing  things  which  occur,  I  will  not  say  in  the  living  body 
only,  but  throughout  nature,  and  which  correspond    so    entirely  to 
supreme  and  spiritual  things,  that  one  would  swear  that  the  physical 
world  was  purely  symbolical  of  the  spiritual  world :  insomuch  that, 
if  we  choose  to  express  any  natural  truth  in  physical  and  definite 
vocal  terms,  and  to  convert  these  terms  only  into  the  corresponding 
spiritual  terms,  we  shall  by  this  means  elicit  a  spiritual  truth  or  theo- 
logical dogma,  in  place  of  the  physical  truth  or  precept ;  although  no 
mortal  would  have  predicted  that  anything  of  the  kind  could  possibly 
arise  by  bare  literal  transposition ;  inasmuch  as  the  one  precept,  con- 
sidered separately  from  the    other,    uppears    to  have  absolutely  no 
relation  to  it.     I  intend  hereafter  to  communicate  a  number  of  such 
correspondences,  together  with  a  vocabulary  containing  the  terms  of 
spiritual  things,  as  well  as  of  the  physical  things  for  which  they  are  to 
be  substituted.     This  symbolism  pervades  the  living  body ;  and  I  have 
chosen  simply  to  indicate  it  here,  for  the  purpose  of  pointing  out  the 
spiritual  meaning  of  searching  the  reins.' " 


gg  swedenborg's  greatness. 

enablin.^  it  to  discover  the  more  in  the  less,  and  the  great  in 
the  il :    in   short  it  authorized  .nan  to  look  upon  nature 
from  definite  principles,  and  thus  to  become  the  mage  and 
Werent  of  God  in  the  scientific  sphere.     Those  who  had  a 
Stpossibility  were  again  shown  to  be  ^^l^^-<';^^ 
indeed  they  have  been  from  the  beginning.     They  sa  d  that 
Ince  wa'passionless  and  inflexible ;  that  it  l>ad  nothmg  to 
do  with  philosophy  or  theology ;    that  ,t  observed  sequencs 
and  made  answerable  formulas,  or  had  a  me  hod,  but  not  a 
s^ul ;  tha  it  excluded  all  but  material  explanations  and  .deas_ 
Butswedenborg  appealed  to  the  same  facts  -  ^^y,  and  w.h 
a  dificrent  result.      He  found  nature  warm  with  the   same 
LiTas  humanity,  and  that  her  sternest  laws  are  plastic  when 
requsthl;  hence  illiberal  logic  is  not  meant  to  com- 
Tel  end  her.     Also  that  nature  is  no  other  than  philosophy 
and  tlieolo^y  embodied  in  mechanics :    or  more    reverently 
ZtST^i  is  the  mechanism  or  means  of  which  truth  and 
Tod  Ir^'th    end.     Moreover,  that  the  series  of  effects  mvolyes 
f  corrcionding  series  of   causes,  and  this,  a  corresponding 
:ZJ^:*  and  that  body  or  ^^^^^^^ 

rnvcrtible  Into  spiritual  truths :  their  convertibility  being  the 


SWEDENBORG  S   GREATNESS. 


37 


.  "9G0    In  the  animal  kingdom,  the  series,  chain,  progression  and 
eirCef^L":,  involve  a  corresponaing  ^:^-^-^-ZC 

effects  of  an  end,  consequently  of  a  use.     nencc 

;S  ession  of  uses,  as  of  effects;  a  similar  P™^--™"^  l^^"^^;.^^ 

I,  Causes ;  and  a  f-"arprog.ssi>m  of  causes   as    f    n  s ,  ^the^s^e™ 

of  ends  being  m  the  soul  itset^  „^*  l^s  „ot  proceed  one  hah- 
rih°lr  is^Xr  not  a S:  rmtlest  Hb're,  or  the  smallest 
ret:  Cstm  trth?::tire  fahnc-of  an  organ,  without  st«  upon 

"  ."r  ip^^tgtm'rr  ufer  ^vj:^^:^:^'^^^ 

rsrr.::;erL^n.tLg  does  she  r^^^^^^^^^^ 

ir;^cS:ieTr\;"Ai^:^sx^."voi.i.pp.3.,3:s.) 


test  of  their  correctness  and  universal  import.  All  this,  we 
repeat,  is  so  attained  by  Swedenborg,  that  science  and  induc- 
tion are  proper  terms  by  which  to  characterize  it ;  wherefore 
henceforth  the  connection  hehveen  science^  philosophy  and  theology, 
is  itself  a  scientific  fact" — J.  J.  Garth  Wilkinson,  Memher 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of  London,  in  his  "Introduc- 
tion "  to  Swedenborg's  "  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom," 
1846.     pp.  Ixxvi.-lxxviii. 

38.  "  Swedenborg  arose  at  a  time  when  some  manifestation 
of  God  was  needed  by  the  world — an  age  of  corrupt  morals 
and  stagnant  faith — an  age  when  the  life  had  exhaled  from 
the  churches,  and  the  dry  bones  rattled,  and  the  ghastly  eye- 
sockets  glared  unmeaningly  upon  the  mysteries  of  Time.  He 
came  prefigured  by  no  portent,  heralded  by  no  convulsions. 
He  did  not  dash  into  the  theological  atmosphere  like  a  blazing 
comet,  attracting  all  eyes  by  the  strangeness  of  its  advent  and 
the  lustre  of  its  fire.  He  rose  like  a  star,  moved  steadily  in 
his  appointed  orbit,  and  melted  off  into  the  light  of  heaven. 
From  his  earliest  youth  he  did  diligently  and  conscientiously 
that  which  was  set  before  him.  He  perfected  himself  in  all 
human  science,  and  acquainted  himself  with  all  the  terrestrial 
developments  of  Deity.  His  writings  are  a  library  in  them- 
selves, and  display  the  most  careful  method  and  the  most 
indomitable  energy.  He  was  eminently  conservative ;  he 
quarrelled  with  no  church ;  he  set  himself  in  opposition  with 
no  organized  body.  He  did  not  stand  apart  in  all  the  loneli- 
ness of  prophetic  fury,  and  denounce  vengeance  on  degenerate 
man.  He  was  too  catholic  to  found  a  sect ;  he  spoke  the  truth 
intrusted  to  him,  and  left  it  to  permeate  the  lives  and  opinions 
of  succeeding  ages.  His  charity  was  broad  as  the  ocean  which 
rolls  its  waves  on  every  shore,  wide  as  the  firmament  which 
foldeth  all  the  orbs  of  heaven  within  its  ample  bosom.  Tlie 
most  magnificent  scholar  of  his  age,  he  was  at  the  same  time 
the  humblest  Christian.  Fo>vored  by  kings,  intimate  with 
nobles  and  statesmen,  and  the  learned  of  every  land,  he  was 
without  one  particle  of  vanity,  and  labored  as  assiduously  and 
devotedly  as  the  humblest  parish  priest.  And  as  he  was  never 
exalted  above  measure,  so  he  was  never  crushed  by  the  terrors 
and  the  glories — dark  visions,  such  as  Dante  never  dreamed 


38 


swedenborg's  greatness. 


—celestial  pictures,  more  magaificent  than  ever  visited  the 

immortal  Milton. 

"  Through  the  trackless  paths  of  time,  and  the  tremendous 
solitudes  of  eternity,  he  pursued  his  way  with  a  courage  that 
never  quailed,  and  a  wing  that  never  tired.  His  brain  never 
reeled  as  the  nations  of  the  damned  rose,  rank  on  rank,  in  all 
the  ghastly  splendor  of  unfading  fire  ;  his  eye  never  blenched 
as  the  long  line  of  sapphire  palaces  flashed  back  upon  his 
vision  the  unutterable  glories  of  Deity.  He  was,  of  all  men 
I  have  met  with,  the  calmest,  wisest,  deepest.  He  was  a  pro- 
found scholar,  a  true  Christian,  a  loyal  subject,  a  magnificent 
poet,  an  unrivalled  philosopher,  and  a  little  child.  He  has  dis- 
solved the  darkness  that  brooded  over  the  Book  of  Life,  and 
from  the  tangled  web- work  of  sectarian  speculation  he  has 
given  us  again  the  Word  of  God.  Swept  by  his  fingers,  the 
cathedral  organ  of  the  universe,  so  long  silent,  has  again  sent 
forth  a  symphony,  the  reverberations  of  which  are  ringing  yet 
in  floating  notes,  and  dying  falls  along  the  hills  of  time.  He 
has  touched  with  his  magician's  wand  the  dark  waters  of 
death,  and  they  sparkle  with  the  scintillations  of  immortality. 
He  has  flung  a  bridge  across  the  baseless,  boundless  chasm 
which  separated  the  present  from  the  to-come,  and  brought  us 
to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  to  the  church  of  the 
first-born,  to  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect,  and  to  our 
Redeemer,  Father,  God.  He  has  elevated  woman  to  her  true 
position,  and  set  once  and  forever  the  'perfect  music  unto 
noble  words.'  He  has  built  up  the  desecrated  temple  of 
marriage,  relit  heaven's  fire  upon  its  sacred  sbrine,  and  round 
about  the  porch  engraved  the  sign  and  seal  of  heaven. 

"Wider  than  Wesley,  deeper  than  Whitfield,  truer  than 
Luther,  he  is  the  last  great  captain  of  the  church  militant ; 
and  as  the  army  with  their  blood-flecked  banners  and  their 
dinted  armor  defile  across  the  bridge  of  death,  and  range 
themselves,  rank  on  rank,  for  the  grand  review  by  the  Lord 
of  Hosts ; — among  the  foremost,  with  peace  within  his  eye, 
and  on  his  brow  the  morning-star,  shall  stand  the  calm,  the 
cloudless,  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  Emanuel  Sweden- 
BORG." — J.  W.  Fletcuer,  in  his  Lecture  on  ''  Sivedenhorg" 
pp.  16,  17. 


swedenborg's  greatness. 


39 


39.  "No  wonder  that  Swedenborg's  ethical  wisdom  should 
give  him  influence  as  a  teacher.  To  the  withered  traditional 
church  yielding  dry  catechisms,  he  let  in  nature  again,  and 
the  worshipper,  escaping  from  the  vesting  of  verbs  and  texts, 
is  surprised  to  find  himself  a  party  to  the  whole  of  his  religion. 
His  religion  thinks  for  him,  and  is  of  universal  application. 
He  turns  it  on  every  side  ;  it  fits  every  part  of  life,  interprets 
and  dignifies  every  circumstance.  Instead  of  a  religion  which 
visited  him  diplomatically  three  or  four  times, — when  he  was 
born,  when  he  married,  when  he  felt  sick,  and  when  he  died, 
and  for  the  rest  never  interfered  with  him, — here  was  a  teach- 
ing which  accompanied  him  all  day,  accompanied  him  even 
into  sleep  and  dreams ;  into  his  thinking,  and  showed  him 
through  what  a  long  ancestry  his  thoughts  descend ;  into 
society,  and  showed  by  what  ailinities  he  was  girt  to  his 
equals  and  his  counterparts ;  into  natural  objects,  and  showed 
their  oiigin  and  meaning,  what  are  friendly  and  Avhat  are 
hurtful ;  and  opened  the  future  world,  by  indicating  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  same  laws.  His  disciples  allege  that  their 
intellect  is  invigorated  by  the  study  of  his  books.  There  is 
no  such  problem  for  criticism  as  his  theological  writings,  their 
merits  are  so  commanding." — Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 


40.     From  Fraser's  Magazine,  February,  1847. 

"  We  are  so  continually  surrounded  and  so  profoundly 
affected  by  the  appeals  of  material  nature  to  the  senses,  that 
the  best  Christian  may  have  good  cause  to  thank  the  writer 
who  succeeds  in  endowing  spiritual  facts  with  fresh  interest 
and  novelty  of  demonstration  ;  and  if  ever  there  was  a  teacher 
signally  gifted  with  this  faculty,  it  was  Swedenborg.  As  a 
preacher,  moreover,  of  universally-admitted  Christian  doctrines 
of  the  most  obviously  practical  import,  he  stands  alone  and 
super-eminent  in  his  way.  The  inseparable  union  of  charity 
and  faith  in  the  heart  of  the  true  believer  is  dwelt  upon  and 
demonstrated  with  a  force  and  reiteration  the  profit  of  which 
those  only  Avho  have  read  a  good  deal  of  Swedenborg  can 
justly  estimate.  The  connection  of  spiritual  death  with  sin 
persevered  in,  against  the  remonstrances  of  the  conscience,  is 


40 


swedenborg's  greatness. 


'} 


propounded  with  an  amount  of  quiet  conviction,  and  proved 
with  a  peculiar  force,  wliich  can  scarcely  fail  to  startle  into 
thoujjhtfulness  those  for  whom  the  accustomed  forms  of  re- 
ligious  teaching  have  ceased,  through  repetition  and  neglect, 
to  exercise  any  influence.  In  morality,  no  writer  has  ever 
more  effectually  impressed  upon  his  readers  the  juste  milieu 
between  asceticism  and  self-indulgence,  between  the  barren 
unworldliness,  and  '  other  wcrldliness,'  of  the  anchorite,  and 
the  carthly-mindedness  of  the  worldling ;  and  indeed  between 
each  pole  of  the  many  pairs  of  vicious  extremes  adopted 
respectively  by  the  unrighteous  and  the  righteous  overmuch. 
That  noble  and  only  true  moderation  which  comes  of  the 
simultaneous  and  harmonious  activity  and  inter-recognition 
of  all  right  motives  and  impulses,  was  a  very  conspicuous 
merit  of  Swedenborg's  life,  and  it  is  not  less  manifest  in  his 
teachings,  which  are  excellent  remedies  for  that  morbid  con- 
science,  almost  worse  than  no  conscience  at  all,  which  afflicts 
its  possessor  whh  innumerable  pangs,  while  its  protest  is 
silent  or  weak  where  it  ought  to  be  clamorous  and  irresis- 
tible." 


III. 


SWEDENBORG'S    CHARACTER. 

41.    "  Reader,  might  it  not  seem  a  wonder,  if  a  person  of 
so   extraordinary  and   apostolical  a  character   should  better 
escape  the  imputation  of  madness  than  the  prophets  of  old  ? 
0  fie  upon  those  uncharitable  prejudices  which  have  led  so 
many,  in  all  ages,  to  credit  and  propagate  slanderous  reports 
of  the  best  of  men,  even  whilst  they  have  been  employed  in 
the  heavenly  work  of  turning  many  from  darkness  to  light, 
and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God.     Were  an  angel  from 
heaven  to  come  and  dwell  incarnate  amongst  us,  may  we  not 
suppose  that  his  conversation,  discoveries,  and  conduct  of  life 
would,  in  many  things,  be  so  contrary  to  the  errors  and  preju- 
dices, the  ways  and  fashions  of  this  world,  that  many  would 
say,  with  one  consent,  that  he  is  beside  himself;  and  where 
any  one  of  our  brethren,  through  the  Divine  favor,  attains  to 
any  high  degree  of  angelical  illumination  and  communications, 
may  he  not  expect  the  like  treatment  ?     I  forget  the  name  of 
the  philosopher  whose  precepts  and  lectures  were  so  repugnant 
to   the   dissolute   manners   of  the  Athenians :    they   sent   to 
Hippocrates,  to  come  and  cure  him  of  his  madness;  to  which 
message  that  great  physician  returned  this  answer:  that  it 
was  not  the  philosopher,  but  the  Athenians  that  were  mad." — 
Dr.  Hartley,  Hector  of  Wimvick,  Northamptonshire :  Preface  to 
the  First  English   Translation  of  Swedenborg^s  "  Heaven  and 
Helir 

42.  From  the  Eidogy  on  Emanuel  Swedenhorg,  pronounced  in 
the  name  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Stockholm,  by 
M.  Samuel  Sandel,  Counsellor  of  the  Royal  Board  of 
Mines,  and  member  of  said  Academy,  October  7,  1772. 

"  Swedenborg's  merit  and   excellent   qualities    shine   with 
brilliancy,  even  where  we  are  endeavoring  to  discover  in  him 
4*  (41) 


42  swedesbokg's  character. 

the  weakness  inseparable  fro.  '^^-^'^^^;:^^:.l'X:^rZ 
.ere  to  aefend  e.ors  ^^t^^^^^^^^  ^- 

;;:rar  rratsti.-;.^t ...  o.e.  .^^^  ..e 

d^Lvered  a  <1<^«--V    fTaro Iw^^^^^^^  '^^ 

Swedenborg  has  ^j^f^^l^f^^^^^^  j;:^^^^^^  to  his  system, 
knowledge ;  which  he  has  »n;°=    '  ^^.^„,d  ,,ave  striven 

in  such  order,  that  the  eleinents  *«™*«^1";  ^''j^^;,.^  „f  knowl- 
i"  vain  to  tu.n  Ui.  ont  o  l„s  cours.  n-  des^^^^^^  ^^^^^^ 
edge  went  too  far,  it  at  lea^t  evm  ^^  ^^^^^^  ^  ^^^, 

to  obtain  inforu—  ^^^-'fl^J'"'  J  eonceit,  of  rash- 
you  never  find  m  hun  any  mark  ot  P  ;   „„t  to 

Lss,  or  of  intention  ^^^^  ^/^V"  .f  Ith,  he  at  least 
be  numbered  among  the  <l»c'°"  °'    '^  ^„,^v.sts,   and 

holds  an  honorable  rank  »--;,"?  vSue  and  of  respect 
deserves  to  be  mstanced  as  a  pattein  oi 

for  his  Creator.  „i.:n^  •  indinhisexamin- 

.He  was  the  -«- /^If  rt-  P^^^^^^^^^^^^  ^-'^'""^ 
ation  of  the  charac  er  <^^^^  ^^J  ^  regarded  as  an 
to  discover   in   them   this   '*'""«'  ^e   was 

infallible  proof  of  the  presence  ^^^^^J  f^^^^^^,,,,  fi,^ 
cheerful  and  agreeable  in  society.  Jj ^^^^^  ,,,  ,„^p,„y 
his  important  labors,  he  sought  -^J^'^^\^,^^  ,^,,,y,  ,,ell 

"^  ^T^lf  kntr rcllrekC-ely,  and  with  great 
received.     He  knew  .^^^^      ^^^^jf  ^^  the 

address,  that  Bpe-e^  of  -t  whic.  ^^^^,,^„,,y,  ,,  was 

expense  of  serious  things      ^s       P  j^,^;^,  ,,ith  great 

^T  "^'^l^'^^^^^^'^^ "^  own  advancement, 
tr  'Toet  c^kd  Sbout  sol^ltation  on  his  part,  to  a  dis- 
Having  been  called  V.  It  ^^^^,^^^    promotion. 

exercising  it  for  one-and-th.rty  years.  ^.^a^my ;  and 

»He  was  a  ^vorthy  member  of  t  us  Koyal  ^^         ^^ 

though  before  his  aanV.ssion  ^n.o  a   .    ad  been  en^^  ^^^   ^,^ 
subjects   different  from  those   which  ^^^^^  ^^^ 

unwilling  to  be   an   unuseful  associate. 


swedenborg's  character. 


43 


Memoirs  with  an  article  on  Inlaid  Work  in  Ilarhle,  for  Tables^ 
and  for  other  Ornaments, 

"  As  a  member  of  the  Equestrian  Order  of  the  House  of 
Nobles,  he  took  his  scat  in  several  of  the  Diets  of  the  Realm  ; 
in  which  his  conduct  was  such  as  to  secure  him  both  from  the 
reproaches  of  his  own  conscience  and  from  those  of  others. 
He  lived  under  the  reigns  of  many  of  our  sovereigns,  and 
enjoyed  the  particular  favor  and  kindness  of  them  all ;  aa 
advantage  which  virtue  and  science  will  ever  enjoy  under  an 
enlightened  government. 

"  Swedenborg  (and  this  I  mention  without  making  a  merit 
of  it)  was  never  married.  This  was  not,  however,  owing  to 
any  indifference  towards  the  sex :  for  he  esteemed  the  com- 
pany of  a  fine  and  intelligent  woman  as  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  of  pleasures;  but  his  profound  studies  rendered 
expedient  for  him  the  quiet  of  a  single  life.  It  may  be  truly 
said  that  he  was  solitary,  but  never  sad. 
.  "He  always  enjoyed  most  excellent  health,  having  scarcely 
ever  experienced  the  slightest  indisposition.*  Content  within 
himself  and  with  his  situation,  his  life  was,  in  all  respects, 
one  of  the  happiest  that  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  man,  till  the 
very  moment  of  its  close.  During  his  last  residence  in  Lon- 
don, on  the  24th  of  December,  last  year,  he  had  an  attack  of 
apoplexy ;  and  nature  demanding  her  rights,  he  died  on  the 
29th  of  March,  in  the  present  year  [1772],  in  the  eighty-fifth 
year  of  his  age;  satisfied  with  his  sojourn  on  earth,  and 
delighted  with  the  prospect  of  his  heavenly  metamorphosis. 

"  May  this  Royal  Academy  retain  as  long,  a  great  number 
of  such  distinguished  and  useful  members  !  " 

43.   The  following  testimony  respecting  Swedenborg  is  from 
Count  A.  J.  von  Hopken.     This  nobleman  was  one  of  the 


*  "  How  inconsistent  is  this  with  the  story  which  has  been  invented 
and  propagated  in  this  country,  that  he  was  once  attacked  with  a  most 
violent  fever,  attended  with  delirium,  from  the  effects  of  which  he 
never  recovered !  In  Sweden,  where  his  personal  history  must  have 
been  best  known,  nothing,  it  seems,  of  the  kind  was  ever  heard  of."— 
Editors  of  ''Documents  concerning  E.  Swedenborg"  New  York. 
1847. 


44 


swedeneorg's  character. 


swedenborg's  character. 


45 


institutors  of  the  Swedish  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  Avhich, 
being  a  man  of  eminent  learniag,  he  served  for  a  considerable 
period  in  the  capacity  of  Secretary.  He  afterwards  was,  for 
many  years,  Prime  Minister  of  the  kingdom  ;  which  station, 
in  addition  to  his  post  as  one  of  the  sixteen  Senators,  with 
whom,  prior  to  the  revolution  in  1772,  the  royal  power  in  fact 
was  vested,  the  King  being  merely  the  president  of  that  body, 
made  him  the  second  person  in  the  kingdom.     He  says  : — 

*'  I  have  not  only  known  him  [Swcdcnborg]  these  two-and- 
forty  years,  but  also,  some  time  since,  daily  freqneuted  his 
company.  A  man,  who  like  me  has  lived  long  in  the  world, 
and  even  in  an  extensive  career  of  life,  must  have  had  numer- 
ous opportunities  of  knowing  men  as  to  their  virtues  or  vices, 
their  weakness  or  strength ;  and  in  consequence  thereof,  I  do 
not  recollect  to  have  known  any  man  of  more  \miformly 
virtuous  character  than  Swedenborg ;  always  contented,  never 
fretful  or  morose,  although  throughout  his  life  his  soul  was 
occupied  with  sublime  thoughts  and  speculations.  He  was  a 
true  philosopher,  and  lived  like  one  ;  he  labored  diligently, 
and  lived  frugally  without  sordidness;  he  travelled  continually, 
and  his  travels  cost  him  no  more  than  if  he  had  lived  at  home. 
He  was  gifted  with  a  most  happy  genius,  and  a  fitness  for 
every  science,  which  made  him  shine  in  all  those  which  he 
embraced.  He  was,  without  contradiction,  the  most  learned 
man  in  my  country  ;  in  his  youth  he  was  a  great  poet.  I  have 
in  my  possession  some  remnants  of  his  Latin  poetry,  Avhich 
Ovid  would  not  have  been  ashamed  to  own.  His  Latin  in  his 
middle  age  was  in  an  easy,  elegant,  and  ornamental  style  ;  in 
his  latter  years  it  Avas  equally  clear,  but  less  elegant  after  he 
had  turned  his  thoughts  to  spiritual  subjects.  He  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  Hebrew  and  Greek ;  an  able  and  pro- 
found mathematician  ;  a  happy  mechanician,  of  which  he  gave 
proof  in  Norway,  where,  by  an  easy  and  simpTe  method,  he 
transported  the  largest  galleys  over  the  high  mountains  and 
rocks  to  a  gulf  where  the  Danish  fleet  was  stationed.  Pie 
was  likewise  a  natural  philosopher,  yet  on  the  Cartesian 
principles.  He  detested  metaphysics  as  founded  on  fallacious 
ideas,  because  they  transcend  our  sphere,  by  means  of  which 
theology  has   been   drawn  from   its   simplicity  and   become 


artificial  and  corrupted.     He  was  perfectly  conversant  with 
mmeralogy,   having   for   a   long   time   been  Assessor  in  the 
Mineral  College,  on  which  science  he  also  published  a  valuable 
and  classical  work,  both  as  to  theory  and  practice,  printed  at 
Leipzic,  in  1734 :  if  he  had  remained  in  his  office,  his  merits 
and  talents  would  have  entitled  him  to  the  highest  dignity ; 
but  he  preferred  ease  of  mind,  and  sought  happiness  in  studV! 
In  Holland  he  began  to  apply  himself  to  anatomy,  in  which 
he  made  singular  discoveries,  which  are  preserved  somewhere 
m  the  Acta  Literaria,     I  imagine  this  science,  and  his  medi- 
tations on  the   effects  of   the  soul  upon  our  curiously  con- 
structed body,  did,  by  degrees,  lead  him  from  the  material  to 
the    spiritual.      He   possessed    a   sound    judgment   upon    all 
occasions ;  he  saw  everything  clearly,  and  expressed  himself 
well  on  every  subject.     Tlie  most  solid  memorials,  and  the 
best  penned,  at  the  Diet  of  1761,  on  matters  of  finance,  were 
presented  by  him.     In  one  of  these  he  refuted  a  large  work  in 
quarto  on  the   same   subject,   quoted   all   the    corresponding 

passages  of  it,  and  all  this  in  less  than  one  sheet "-T 

Letter  to  General  Tiixen. 

44.  Carl  Robsham,  Director  of  the  Bank  of  Siveden,  and 
the  confidential  friend  of  Swedenborg,  has  written  a  very 
mteresting  memoir  of  his  life,  which  has  been  translated  into 
Enolish  from  the  Swedish,  and  from  which  we  make  the 
following  extract : — 

"As  Swedenborg,  in  his  youth,  had  no  thought  of  the 
employment  of  his  coming  life,  it  may  be  easily  believed,  that 
he  was  not  only  a  learned  man  and  a  gentleman,  after  the 
manner  of  the  times,  but  a  man  so  distinguished  for  wisdom 
as  to  be  celebrated  throughout  Europe,  and  also  possessed  of  a 
propriety  of  manners  that  rendered  him  everywhere  an 
honored  and  acceptable  companion.  Thus  he  continued  to 
old  age,  serene,  cheerful  and  agreeable,  with  a  countenance 
always  illuminated  by  the  light  of  his  uncommon  genius. 
How  he  was  looked  upon  in  foreign  lands  I  do  not  know  ;  but 
in  Stockholm,  even  those  who  could  not  read  his  writings, 
were  always  pleased  to  meet  him  in  company,  and  paid 
respectful  attention  to  whatever  he  said. 


44 


swedeneorg's  character. 


swedenborg's  character. 


45 


institutors  of  the  Swedish  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  Avhich, 
being  a  man  of  eminent  learning,  he  served  for  a  considerable 
period  in  the  capacity  of  Secretary.  He  afterwards  was,  for 
many  years,  Prime  Minister  of  the  kingdom  ;  which  station, 
in  addition  to  his  post  as  one  of  the  sixteen  Senators,  with 
whom,  prior  to  the  revolution  in  1772,  the  royal  power  in  fact 
was  vested,  the  King  being  merely  the  president  of  that  body, 
made  him  the  second  person  in  the  kingdom.     He  says  : — 

"  I  have  not  only  known  him  [Swedenborg]  these  two-and- 
forty  years,  but  also,  some  time  since,  daily  frequented  his 
company.  A  man,  who  like  me  has  lived  long  in  the  world, 
and  even  in  an  extensive  career  of  life,  must  have  had  numer- 
ous opportunities  of  knowing  men  as  to  their  virtues  or  vices, 
their  weakness  or  strength  ;  and  in  consequence  thereof,  I  do 
not  recollect  to  have  known  any  man  of  more  \miformly 
virtuous  cliaracter  than  Swedenborg ;  always  contented,  never 
fretful  or  morose,  although  throughout  his  life  his  soul  was 
occupied  with  sublime  thoughts  and  speculations.  He  was  a 
true  philosopher,  and  lived  like  one ;  he  labored  dih'gently, 
and  lived  frugally  without  sordidness;  he  travelled  continually, 
and  his  travels  cost  him  no  more  than  if  he  had  lived  at  home. 
He  was  gifted  with  a  most  happy  genius,  and  a  fitness  for 
every  science,  which  made  him  shine  in  all  those  which  he 
embraced.  He  was,  without  contradiction,  the  most  learned 
man  in  my  country  ;  in  his  youth  he  was  a  great  poet.  I  have 
in  my  possession  some  remnants  of  his  Latin  poetry,  which 
Ovid  would  not  have  been  ashamed  to  own.  His  Latin  in  his 
middle  age  was  in  an  easy,  elegant,  and  ornamental  style  ;  in 
his  latter  years  it  was  equally  clear,  but  less  elegant  after  he 
had  turned  his  thoughts  to  spiritual  subjects.  He  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  Hebrew  and  Greek ;  an  able  and  pro- 
found mathematician  ;  a  happy  mechanician,  of  which  he  gave 
proof  in  Norway,  where,  by  an  easy  and  simple  method,  he 
transported  the  largest  galleys  over  the  high  mountains  and 
rocks  to  a  gulf  where  the  Danish  fleet  was  stationed.  He 
was  likewise  a  natural  philosopher,  yet  on  the  Cartesian 
principles.  He  detested  metaphysics  as  founded  on  fallacious 
ideas,  because  they  transcend  our  sphere,  by  means  of  which 
theology  has   been   drawn  from   its   simplicity  and   become 


artificial  and  corrupted.  He  was  perfectly  conversant  with 
mineralogy,  having  for  a  long  time  been  Assessor  in  the 
Mineral  College,  on  which  science  he  also  published  a  valuable 
and  classical  work,  both  as  to  theory  and  practice,  printed  at 
Leipzic,  in  1734 :  if  he  had  remained  in  his  office,  his  merits 
and  talents  would  have  entitled  him  to  the  highest  dignity ; 
but  he  preferred  ease  of  mind,  and  sought  happiness  in  studV! 
In  Holland  he  began  to  apply  himself  to  anatomy,  in  which 
he  made  singular  discoveries,  which  are  preserved  somewhere 
in  the  Acta  Literaria.  I  imagine  this  science,  and  his  medi- 
tations on  the  effects  of  the  soul  upon  our  curiously  con- 
structed body,  did,  by  degrees,  lead  him  from  the  material  to 
the  spiritual.  He  possessed  a  sound  judgment  upon  all 
occasions ;  he  saw  everything  clearly,  and  expressed  himself 
well  on  every  subject.  The  most  solid  memorials,  and  the 
best  penned,  at  the  Diet  of  1761,  on  matters  of  finance,  were 
presented  by  him.  In  one  of  these  he  refuted  a  large  work  in 
quarto  on  the  same   subject,   quoted  all   the    corresponding 

passages  of  it,  and  all  this  in  less  than  one  sheet "-T 

Letter  to  General  Tuxen, 

44.  Carl  Robsham,  Director  of  the  Banh  of  Siveden,  and 
the  confidential  friend  of  Swedenborg,  has  written  a  very 
interesting  memoir  of  his  life,  which  has  been  translated  into 
English  from  the  Swedish,  and  from  which  we  make  the 
following  extract : — 

"As  Swedenborg,  in  his  youth,  had  no  thought  of  the 
employment  of  his  coming  life,  it  may  be  easily  believed,  that 
he  was  not  only  a  learned  man  and  a  gentleman,  after  the 
manner  of  the  times,  but  a  man  so  distinguished  for  wisdom 
as  to  be  celebrated  throughout  Europe,  and  also  possessed  of  a 
propriety  of  manners  that  rendered  him  everywhere  an 
honored  and  acceptable  companion.  Thus  he  continued  to 
old  age,  serene,  cheerful  and  agreeable,  with  a  countenance 
always  illuminated  by  the  light  of  his  uncommon  genius. 
How  he  was  looked  upon  in  foreign  lands  I  do  not  know  ;  but 
m  Stockholm,  even  those  wlio  could  not  read  his  writings, 
were  always  pleased  to  meet  him  in  company,  and  paid 
respectful  attention  to  whatever  he  said. 


4G 


swedenborg's  character. 


"  Those  who  arc  capable  of  understanding  the  writings  of 
Swedcnborg,  judge  of  his  character  in  an  entirely  different 
manner  from  those  who  cannot ;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  few 
ever  read  his  works  witliout  becoming  convinced  of  their 
truths,  although  many,  from  fear  of  the  Jews,  or  perliaps  for 
some  more  honorable  reasons,  were  unwilling  openly  to  allow 
their  belief. 

"  Many  persons  have  wondered  that  he  never  was  in  want 
of  money  for  his  frequent  journeys,  and  other  expenses  ;  but 
when  it  is  considered,  that  he  lived  very  moderately  on  his 
journeys,  and  that  his  books  on  philosophy  and  mineralogy,  as 
well  as  his  theolocical  writings,  never  remained  long  on  the 
bookseller's  hands,  but  always  met  a  ready  sale,  and  that  he 
inherited  from  his  father.  Bishop  Swedenborg,  a  considerable 
sum,  it  will  be  easily  understood  how  he  was  able  to  accom- 
plish all  his  designs." 

In  another  place  he  says, — "  It  is  in  the  writings  of  the 
studious  and  contemplative  that  we  must  read  their  lives,  and 
learn  what  they  Avere  ;  and  if  we  look  at  Swedenborg  in  this 
view^,  we  are  astonished  at  the  greatness  of  his  labors,  the 
extent  of  his  knowledge,  the  purity  and  consistency  of  his 
doctrines,  the  order  and  perspicuity  of  his  discussions,  all 
which  bespeak  a  mind  vastly  above  the  common  sort,  indefati- 
gable in  its  exertions,  profound  in  its  researches,  illuminated 
and  clear  in  its  perceptions,  pious,  sober,  and  solid  in  its 
principles." 

45.  Rev.  Arvtd  Ferelius,  the  Swedish  clergyman  who 
visited  Swedenborg  before  his  death,  and  performed  the 
funeral  service  at  his  interment,  in  the  Swedish  Church  in 
London,  in  March,  1772,  says  concerning  him  : — 

"  Many  may  suppose  that  Assessor  Swedenborg  was  a  very 
singular  and  eccentric  person  ;  this  was  by  no  means  the  case. 
On  the  contrary,  he  was  very  agreeable  and  complaisant  in 
company  ;  he  entered  into  conversation  on  every  subject,  and 
accomodated  himself  to  the  ideas  of  the  company  ;  and  he 
never  spoke  on  his  own  writings  and  doctrines  but  when  he 
was  asked  some  questions  concerning  them,  when  he  always 
spoke  as  freely  as  he  had  written.     If,  hoAvever,  he  observed 


) 


swedenborg's  character. 


47 


that  any  person  desired  to  ask  impertinent  questions,  or  to 
ridicule  him,  he  immediately  gave  such  an  answer,  that  the 
impertinent  questioner  must  be  silent,  without  becoming  any 
the  wiser." — Letter  to  Prof,  Tratgard,  in  Greifswalde, 

46.  Rev.  N.  Collin,  Rector  of  the  Siuedish  Church  in 
Philadelphia^  who  was  personally  acquainted  with  Swedenborg, 
published  in  the  Philadelphia  Gazette,  of  August  5th,  8th  and 
10th,  an  account  of  his  illustrious  countryman  ;  from  this  we 
extract  the  following : — 

"  In  the  year  1765  I  went  to  reside  at  Stockholm,  and  con- 
tinued partly  in  that  city,  and  partly  in  its  vicinity,  for  nearly 
three  years.  During  that  time,  Swedenborg  was  a  great 
object  of  public  attention  in  tliis  metropolis,  and  his  extra- 
ordinary character  was  a  frequent  topic  of  discussion.  He 
resided  at  his  house  in  the  southern  suburbs,  which  was  in  a 
pleasant  situation,  neat  and  convenient,  with  a  spacious  garden 
and  other  appendages.  There  he  received  company.  Not 
seldom  he  also  appeared  in  public,  and  mixed  in  private 
societies  ;  therefore  sufficient  opportunities  were  given  to  make 
observation  on  him.  I  collected  much  information  from 
several  respectable  persons,  Avho  had  conversed  with  him  ; 
which  was  the  more  easy,  as  I  lived  the  whole  time,  as  private 
tutor,  in  the  family  of  Dr.  Celsius,  a  gentleman  of  distin- 
guished talents,  who  afterwards  became  Bishop  of  Scania  ;  he, 
and  many  of  the  eminent  persons  that  frequented  his  house, 
knew  Swedenborsr  well." 

In  a  letter  addressed  by  Mr.  Collin  to  the  Rev.  John 
Hargrove,  of  Baltimore,  March  16,  1801,  he  makes  the  fol- 
lowing statement: — 

'*  Swedenborg  was  universally  esteemed  for  his  various 
erudition  in  mathematics,  mineralogy,  etc.,  and  for  his  probity, 
benevolence  and  general  virtue.  Being  very  old  when  I  saw 
him,  he  was  thin  and  pale,  but  still  retained  traces  of  beauty, 
and  had  something  very  pleasing  in  his  physiognomy,  and  a 
dignity  in  his  tall  and  erect  stature." 


47.      The  Author  of  a  Dissertation  on  the  Royal  Society  of 


48 


SWEDENBORGS   CHARACTER. 


Sciences  at  Upsal,  published  in  1789,  mentions  Swedenborg  as 
one  of  its  first  and  best  members,  thus :  — 

"  His  letters  to  the  Society  while  abroad  witness  that  few 
can  travel  so  usefully.  An  indefatigable  curiosity  directed  to 
various  important  objects  is  conspicuous  in  all.  Mathematics, 
astronomy,  and  mechanics  seem  to  have  been  his  favorite 
sciences,  and  he  had  already  made  great  progress  in  these. 
Everywhere  he  became  acquainted  with  the  most  renowned 
mathematicians  and  astronomers,  as  Flamstead,  De  la  Hire, 
Varignon,  &c.  His  pursuit  of  knowledge  was  also  united 
with  a  constant  zeal  to  benefit  his  country.  No  sooner  was 
he  informed  of  some  useful  discovery,  than  he  was  solicitous 
to  render  it  beneficial  to  Sweden,  by  purchase,  or  sending  home 
models.  When  a  good  book  was  published,  he  not  only  gave 
immediate  notice  of  it,  but  contrived  to  procure  it  for  the 
library  of  the  university."  —  See  Rev,  N.  Collin's  account  of 
Siuedenhorg, 

48.  TnE  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Hartley,  Becior  of  Win- 
vncJc,  in  Northainptonshire,  England^  of  whom  Mr.  Springer, 
the  Swedish  consul  at  London  says,  that  he  was  "  a  man  of 
profound  learning,  and  a  true  servant  of  God,  and  the  most 
intimate  friend  of  Swedenborg,"  makes  the  following  remarks 
in  reference  to  a  letter  received  by  him  from  Swedenborg:  — 

"As  the  credibility  of  Swcdenborg's  extraordinary  dispen- 
sation, ia  respect  to  his  commerce  with  the  invisible  world; 
would  receive  additions  from  his  private  good  character,  I  was 
accordingly  led  to  call  upon  him  by  letter  to  publish  some  par- 
ticulars of  himself,  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  public ;  which 
he  answered,  giving  mc  some  account  of  himself  and  family  \ 
and  the  accuracy  of  his  relation  was  confirmed  to  me  by  some 
that  well  knew  him  in  his  own  country,  and  of  the  honors 
with  wliich  he  was  dignified  there  as  a  member  of  the  Diet  of 
the  Equestrian  Order  of  Nobles,  and  of  the  high  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held  by  the  royal  family  in  Sweden,  as  also  by 
the  most  pious  and  excellent  men  of  that  kingdom. 

"  Swedenborg  was  a  man  of  uncommon  humility,  and  sc 
far  from  affecting  to  be  the  head  of  a  sect,  that  his  voluminous 


k 


\ 


swedenborg's  character. 


49 


writings  in  divinity  continued  almost  to  the  end  of  his  life  to 
be  anonymous  publications  ;  and  I  have  some  reason  to  think 
that  it  was  owing  to  my  remonstrance  to  him  on  this  subject, 
that  he  was  induced  to  prefix  his  name  to  his  last  work." 

Dr.  Hartley  translated  into  English  Swcdenborg's  treatise 
"  On  the  Nature  of  Influx,"  and  prefixed  a  long  preface  to  the 
work,  in  which  he  says :  "I  have  conversed  with  him  at  dif- 
ferent times,  and  in  company  with  a  gentleman  of  a  learned  pro- 
fession, and  of  extensive  intellectual  abilities  [Dr.  Messiter]  : 
.  .  .  and  both  of  us  consider  this  our  acquaintance  with  the 
author  and  his  writings  among  the  greatest  blessings  of  our 
lives.  The  extensive  learning  displayed  in  his  writings,  evinces 
him  to  be  the  scholar  and  the  philosopher ;  and  his  polite  be- 
havior and  address  bespeak  him  the  gentleman.  He  affects  no 
honor,  but  declines  it ;  pursues  no  worldly  interest,  but  spends 
his  substance  in  travelling  and  printing,  in  order  to  communi- 
cate instruction  and  benefit  to  mankind :  and  he  is  so  far  from 
the  ambition  of  heading  a  sect,  that  wherever  he  resides  in  his 
travels  he  is  a  mere  solitary,  and  almost  inaccessible,  though 
in  his  own  country  of  a  free  and  open  behavior.  He  has 
nothing  of  the  precisian  in  his  manner,  nothing  of  melancholy 
in  his  temper,  and  nothing  in  the  least  bordering  on  the 
enthusiast  in  his  conversation  and  writings." 


49.  Dr.  Messiter,  an  eminent  'physician  in  London^  was  an 
intimate  friend  of  Swedenborg,  and  the  "  gentleman  of  a 
learned  profession  and  of  extensive  intellectual  abilities," 
mentioned  by  Dr.  Hartley  in  the  extract  above.  In  1769,  he 
presented,  by  desire  of  Swedenborg,  some  of  his  works  to  the 
Professors  of  Divinity  at  Edinburgh,  Glasgow  and  Aberdeen, 
for  the  universities  in  those  places.  In  his  letter  to  Dr.  Ham- 
ihon  of  Edinburgh,  Dr.  M.  says, — 

"  As  I  had  the  honor  of  being  frequently  admitted  to  the 
author's  company  when  he  was  in  London,  and  conversed  with 
him  on  various  points  of  learning,  I  will  venture  to  affirm  that 
there  are  no  parts  of  mathematical,  philosophical,  or  medical 
knowledge,  nay,  I  believe  I  might  justly  say,  of  human  litera- 
ture, to  which  he  is  in  the  least  a  stranger ;  yet  so  totally 
insensible  is  he  of  his  own  merit,  that  I  am  confident  he  does  not 

5 


50  swedenborg's  character. 

know  that  he  has  any  ;  and,  as  he  himself  ^o-^^-^. ^sJ 
the  angels,  he  always  turns  his  head  away  on  the  slightest 

encomium." 

Dr.  Hamilton,  in  his  answer,  candidly  says,  — 

"I  have  seen  enough  to  convince  me  that  the  honoraUe 
author  is  a  very  learned  and  pious  man-quahties  that  shall 
ever  command  my  respect."  r>.  Mp^iler 

So  in  his  letter  to  Dr.  Gerard  at  Aberdeen,  Dr.  MessKer, 
sneakinn- of  Swedenborg's  works,  says,— 

»  They  are  the  productions  of  a  man  whose  gocA  qualities 
resulting  from  his  natural  and  acquired  abilities,  I  can  with 
much  tr^itli,  from  my  frequent  converse  with  him,  assert,  are 
Tlth  ornament  to  human  nature.  Credulity  prejudice  or 
partiality,  seem  to  have  no  share  in  his  composition  or  char- 
acter ;  nor  is  he  in  the  least  influenced  by  any  avunc.ous  o. 
interested  views.  A  proof  of  this  last  assertion  was  off-ered  me, 
by  his  refusing  an  offer  of  any  money  he  might  have  occasion 
for  while  in  England,  which  was  made  him  on  a  supposal  that 
his  want  of  connections  in  a  place  where  he  was  a  stranger 
might  prove  an  obstacle  to  Lis  divine  pursuits." 

50.  Teslimony  of  Professor  von  Gorres,  Bdative  to  Sweden- 
borg's  Scientific  and  Philosophical  Character. 
Giirres  was  Professor  at  the  University  of  Munich.  He 
was  a  man  of  influence  in  his  sphere,  and  held  in  great  esteem 
by  a  wide  circle  of  admirers.  During  the  progress  of  the 
Ltitin  and  German  edition  of  Swedenborg's  works  Professor 
GGiTcs  was  induced  to  look  into  his  writings,  and  to  lay  the 
results  of  his  examination  before  the  public. 

"  Amongst  the  signs  of  the  present  time,"  says  tlie  Professor, 
»  must,  without  doubt,  be  numbered  the  new  edition  of  Sweden- 
bora's  works,  and  the  movement  which,  in  certain  places,  is 
canted  by  the  doctrines  he  unfolds.  Most  persons  who  have 
only  read  that  portion  of  his  writings  to  which  they  have  had 
access,  might  feel  disposed  to  consider  them  as  the  results  of 
a  mind  involved  in  an  inextricable  maze,  or  bordering  even 
on  infatuation ;  some  also  may  be  disposed  to  consuier  tliem 
as  the  results  of  wilful  deception.  Others,  milder  in  their 
judgment,  explain,  as  Herder  did,  the  enigmatical  appearance 

I 

I 

! 

J 


swedenborg's  character. 


51 


on  flie  ground  of  a  powerfully  creative  imagination,  which, 
actuated  by  strong  impulses,  becomes  at  length  habitual,  gen- 
erates in  science,  as  in  poetry,  wonderful  images  of  a  spiritu- 
alizing enchantment,  which  sports  in  the  weakened  memory  of 
age  with  the  lively  visions  of  youth,  and  which  the  incau- 
tious senses  assume  for  the  actual  and  real  perceptions  of 
intellect ;  and  in  this  manner  ohjedive  truth  is  unconsciously 
fiilsified  by  the  suhjedive,  self-derived  productions  of  the  mind. 
"The  case  of  Swedcnborg,  however,  is  not  so  easily  settled 
as  this  two-fold  mode  of  explanation  supposes.     Swedenbor^r 
was  not  a  man  to  he  carried  away  hy  an  unbridled  imagination, 
still  less  did  he  ever  manifest,  during  Ms  icliole  life,  the  slightest 
symptom  of  mental  aherration.      His   natural  disposition  was 
tranquil,  equal,  thoughtful,  meditative;  as  is  the  case  with  most 
of  his  Swedish  countrymen,  the  powers  of  his  understandin^r 
were  preponderating,  and  he  had  carefully  nourished  and  cuf- 
livated  them,  devoted,  during  the  greatest  part  of  his  hfe,  to 
naremiued  studies.     It  is  therefore  not  to  be  supposed  that' he 
in  this  gross  manner,  with  wakeful  eyes,  deceived  himself,  and 
that  what  in  one  moment  he  himself  thought,  in  another  re- 
garded as  chimerical.     On  the  other  hand,  he  was  in  life  and 
disposition  so  blameless,  that  no  man  dare  ever  intimate  any  suspi^ 
cion  of  concerted  deception  ;  and '^  — we  call  the  attention  of  our 
readers    especially   to    the   following    passage —  "  posterity 

HAVE  NO  RIGHT  TO  CALL  INTO  QUESTION  THE  UNSUSPECTED 
TESTIMONY  OF  THOSE  WHO  LIVED  IN  THE  SAME  AGE  AS  SWE- 
1>ENB0RG,  AND  WHO  KNEW  HIM  WELL  ;  IF  THIS  MODE  OF 
JUDGMENT  BE  PERMITTED,  ALL  HISTORICAL  EVIDENCE,  EVEN 
THE   HOLIEST   AND    MOST    VENERABLE,   MIGHT   BE   REDUCED   TO 

NOTHING.  .  .  .  If  it  be  permitted  to  say  of  a  man,  to  whose 
veracity,  intelligence,  science,  irreproachahle  conduct,  presence  of 
iHind,  and  fidelity  to  truth,  his  contemporaries  hear  testimony-^ 
If  It  be  permitted  for  posterity  to  say  that  such  a  man  had 
either  nnprudenlly  deceived  himself  and  the  world,  or  had 
knowingly  dealt  in  mere  falsehood  and  lies,  there  is  an  end  to 
the  verification  of  historical  events." 

In   relation   to   Swedenborg's   "  Principia,"   the  Professor 
says ;  — 

"  Indefatigable  in  meditating  over  the  wonderful  phenomena 


52  swedenborg's  chakacter. 

in  the  created  world ;  constantly  occupied  in  exploring  the 
Lsin  which  the  manifold  variety  of  these  phenomena  » 
XhU  Swedenhor,  endea^red^t^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

f >'n^  %  ---:  tm'::ich  tr :rr;::n, 

!  r  on  bv  S  crcltive  spirit  and  power,  might  he  contem- 
'rfl"rnd  from  wllh  the  first  principles  of  things  might  be 
^ITn  Cviu^TrJm  the  impulsive  force  which  God  has  .m- 

^X^^i^l^L^T'Ssis  of  the  wor.,  he  continues:- 

will  al^^  ays  oe  c  ^^^auction  indicative  of  profound 

thought  ,n  all  Its  ?'^^^^"  Principiaof  Natural  Philosophy. 

side  of  Nev^ton's  '"«'';'"«'  ^f,™^"  4ini,„t  genius  of  the 

uSwcdenborg  l-'':  -f  .J' "°'^*^  „f   .^  di!,  always  hit 

Sf  trr^rr  :£  tl":  inst^d  of  whl..    however  he 

So::t:L  fo.mul.,  whic^  .e  .^^^^^^^ 

£;te^sr:i\Xrc;2f:^^^^^^^^^^^ 

:r;:C  and  l.  rather  endeavored  to  direct  the  who 

of  his  efforts  to  place  metaphysics  in  the  provmce  of  mathe 
of  his  cttorts       p  ^^.^j^  ^    ^^^  ^j  perception. 

mat.cs,  and  to  •"'^'^°."^°  JJ"        ,^„i,„,„  ,^as  rf^ffcn^,  pr^ci.e, 
Tn  conduct  ng  expermients,  bwedonooio  .      .    '/  ,  „u 

a^e  "  e,  *r  J.oi, ;  although  he  may  bo  -n.mg  m  h^^^^^^^^^^ 
Lncc  which  makes  Newton's  work  on  optics  a  fi^'^l'^/^  «« 
Tart  or  of  scientific  skill.  And  whilst  a  greater  depth  of 
Ipecu  atiou  characterizes  the  work  of  the  Swede,  that  of  the 


swedenborg's  character. 


53 


Briton  is  marked  by  a  more  widely-extended  surface,  and  is 
more  richly  finislied.  Hence  it  is  that  the  work  of  the  former 
has  been  hitherto  passed  over  in  silence  in  the  history  of  sci- 
ence, without  making  any  great  impression  ;  whereas  that  of 
Newton,  owing  to  the  manifold  practical  results  which  have 
attended  it,  has  formed  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  human 
knowledge.  The  work  of  Swedenborg,  however,  contains,  no 
doubt,  a  rich  treasure  of  enlarged  and  profound  observations  on 
nature.  Many  of  the  ideas  unfolded  in  that  work  .  .  .  have, 
siuce  Swedenborg's  time,  been  most  wonderfully  confirmed 
through  the  investigations  which  Herschel  has  made  into  the 
structure  of  the  heavens,  and  by  the  discovery  of  the  polariza- 
tion of  light,  and  of  the  magnetic  operations,  performed  by 
the  galvanic  battery.  His  spiral  motion,  which  extends  to 
every  province  in  nature,  into  organic  structures  and  their 
operations,  and  even  into  history,  is  an  extremely  appropriate 
expression  by  which  numerous  phenomena  can  be  easily  com- 
prehended ;  and  it  might,  in  the  hand  of  a  person  skilled  in 
analysis,  be  made  as  fruitful  in  physics  as  the  doctrine  of 
gravitation  has  been  for  astronomy.'* 

It  seems  a  pity  that  the  Professor  had  not  an  opportunity  of 
also  studying  Swedenborg's  works  on  the  Animal  Kingdom 
and  its  Economy^  in  which  his  philosophical  principles  are 
carried  out  in  a  most  striking  manner ;  we  are  certain  that 
the  author  would  have  risen  still  higher  in  his  estimation  as  a 
profound  and  original  thinker.  The  Professor  concludes  his 
article  on  Swedenborg  as  follows  :  — 

"  It  now  remains  that  we  give  an  impartial  judgment  on 
Swedenborg's  character  and  his  mental  disposition,  and  on  his 
moral  physiognomy,  in  so  far  as  it  shines  forth  from  the 
series  in  which  his  labors  as  an  author  were  produced ;  and 
here  we  cannot  but  award  him  the  most  favorable  testimony. 
Throughout  the  entire  career  of  his  learned  researches  and 
activity,  we  everywhere  discover  the  pious  and  religious  man, 
who,  in  all  his  sayings  and  doings,  was  intent  upon  good.  In 
his  inmost  soul,  he  was  entirely  opposed  to  all  those  systems 
of  materialism  and  naturalism  which  so  wantonly  prevailed  in 
his  time ;  and  he  built  his  own  system  on  the  foundation  of  an 
eternal  Esse,  and  on  its  creating  activities  [from  which,  as  from 

6* 


54 


swedenborg's  character. 


swedenborg's  character. 


55 


i  • 


the   only  Origin  and  Cause,  all  things  are  created  and  pre- 
served].     And  throughout  the  entire  course  of  his  lahors,  he 
seizes  every  opportunity  of  pointing  to  this  first  great  rational 
cause  of  all  things,  and,  at  the  same  time,  he  endeavors  to 
show  the  absurdity  of  all  opposite  opinions.     Nor  did  the  sen- 
sualism of  those  of  his  contemporaries,  which  confines  itself 
to  the  mere  surface  of  things ;  nor  did  the  more  refined  pan- 
theistic abstraction  of  others,  although  penetrating  more  deeply 
below  the  surface,  find  any  place  in  his  system  and  works. 
On  the  contrary,  his  philosophy,  as  to  all  its  principal  and  lead- 
ing points,  is  founded  on  the  eternal  principles  revealed  in  the 
Holy  Writ.     Throughout  his  works  everything  appears  sunple 
and  uniform,  especially  as  to  the  tone  in  which  he  writes,  in 
which  there  is  no  efibrt  at  display  in  the  imaginative  powers, 
nothing  overwrought,  nothing  fantastic,  nothing  that  can  m 
the  remotest  degree  be  construed  into  a  morbid  bias  of  a  pre- 
vailing mental  activity,  nothing  indicating  an  idiosyncrasy,  or 
manifesting  any  peculiarity  of  a  commencing  mental  derange- 
ment.    Everything  he  undertakes  is  developed  in  a  calm  and 
measured  manner^  like  the  resolution  and  demonstration  of  a 
mathematical  problem,  and  everywhere  the  operations  of  a  mind 
composed  and  well  ordered  shine  forth,  with  conviction   as 
to  the  certainty  of  the  results  of  its  activity.     In  the  cultiva- 
tion of  science,  sincerity  and  simplicity  of  heart  are  necessary 
requirements  to  the  attainment  of  durable  success.     We  never 
observe  that"  Swedenborg  was  subject  to  that  pride  by  the  in- 
fluence of  which  so  many  great  spirits  have  fallen  ;  he  always 
remained  the   same  subdued  and  modest  mind ;  and  never, 
either  by  success,  or  by  any  consideration,  lost  his  mental 

equilibrium. 

"  There  nowhere  appears  in  the  writings  of  Swedenborg  a 
self-destroying  contradiction,  nothing  abrupt,  disjointed,  or  un- 
connected, or  arbitrary,  or  illogical,  such  as  is  accustomed  to 
accompany  the  phenomena  of  dreams,  or  the  eff*usions  of  an 
unregulated  fancy ;  but  everything  that  he  writes  is  so  con- 
nected and  uninterrupted  as  to  present  a  perfect  whole.   .    .  " 

The  editors  of  the  "Documents,  &c.,"  add  the  following 

remark :  — 
"  No  testimony  can  be  more  important,  both  as  to  impartiality, 


and  as  to  the  position  the  Professor  occupies  as  a  judge  of 
mental  productions."  They  likewise  add  that  "  the  sentences 
in  the  above  extracts  marked  with  italics,  are  so  marked  in 
the  G-erman  from  which  they  have  been  translated." 

51.  Another  celebrated  German  professor,  and  no  less  a 
person  than  Dr.  v.  Baur,  the  founder  of  the  so-called  "Tu- 
bingen School  of  Theology,"  said  to  some  of  his  students  who 
visited  him  at  his  house,  that  "  Swedenborg  was  the  greatest 
mortal  that  ever  lived"  This  statement  was  made  to  my  father 
by  my  late  uncle.  Prof.  Immanuel  Tafel,  of  Tubingen,  who 
likewise  added  that  by  the  influence  of  Prof.  v.  Baur  all  the 
original  editions  of  Swedenborg's  works  were  bought  for  the 
University  Library. 

52.  Dr.  Immanuel  Tafel,  who  was  Professor  of  Philos- 
ophy and  Librarian  at  the  University  of  Tubingen,  gives  the 
following  as  the  result  of  his  investigations  into  the  character 
and  life  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg  :  — 

"  From  all  these  testimonies  it  appears  that  he  was  a  man 
thoroughly  at  home  in  all  departments  of  human  science,  and 
that  he  moved  in  them  as  in  his  own  proper  sphere.  That  he 
was  by  far  the  greatest  scholar  of  his  country  ;  that  he  was  a 
most  distinguished  poet  in  his  youth,  an  adept  in  the  oriental 
and  occidental  languages,  a  thorough  mathematician,  a  suc- 
cessful mechanician,  a  perfect  metallurgist,  an  accomplished 
statesman,  a  profound  philosopher,  a  sound  theologian,  and  a 
man  in  whose  character  were  combined  noble  and  pure  senti- 
ments, with  a  spotless,  industrious,  virtuous  and  holy  life,  and 
who  was  adorned  with  all  social  virtues,  so  that  he  was  ven- 
erated and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him  :  a  man,  in  fine,  who 
in  all  his  doings,  seems  to  have  been  especia-ly  favored  by 
Divine  Providence."  —  Preface  to  his  Translation  of  Sweden^ 
horg*s  Works,  p.  v. 

53.  Dr.  Oettinger,  Prelate  of  Murrhard,  in  Wurtemherg^ 
in  his  book  entitled  "  The  High  Priesthood  of  Christ,"  pub- 
lished in  1772, says: — 

"  Swedenborg   was  from   his  youth   innocent,  pious  and 


56 


swedenborg's  character. 


swedenborg's  character. 


57 


exemplary,  and  by  no  means  addicted  to  imaginary  pursuits. 
Geometry,  Algebra,  and  Mechanics  had  guarded  him  against 
everything  like  fantastic  studies.  Diotrephes  barked  loudly 
against  John,  the  beloved  disciple  of  Jesus ;  and  why  should 
we  wonder  that  Swedenborg  is  so  misrepresented  and  calum- 
niated? Satan  has  his  greatest  delight,  and  his  most  delicious 
feast,  when  he  can  set  theologians  by  the  ears,  and  excite 
strife  and  animosity  against  them.  But  the  Lord  will  bring 
to  light  that  which  has  been  concealed  in  darkness." 

In  another  place  'he  says,  "  Swedenborg  is,  in  my  estima- 
tion, the  forerunner  of  a  new  era." 

54.  Prof.  M.  J.  Schleiden,  of  the  University  of  Jena,  pays 
the  following  high  tribute  to  the  private  character  of  Sweden- 
borg :  — 

"  If  we  are  permitted  in  any  man  to  judge  of  his  innermost 
hidden  worth,  we  are  so  in  Swedenborg.  From  the  time  of 
his  earliest  youth  to  the  hour  of  his  death,  in  his  85th  year, 
there  is  not  one  minute  that  accuses  him.  In  his  picture, 
whether  drawn  by  his  friends,  by  indifferent  observers,  or 
even  by  his  theological  opponents,  (for  enemies  he  had  none,) 
there  is  not  one  feature  which  is  not  respectable,  nay,  lovable. 
Modest  even  to  humility,  simple  and  temperate  to  the  highest 
degree  in  his  dress  and  food,  even  at  the  time  of  his  greatest 
opulence  ;  without  any  desire  for  outward  honors  or  pecuniary 
emoluments,  and  generally  refusing  even  those  which  were 
ottered  to  him  without  their  being  called  for.  Opposed  to 
making  proselytes,  never  taking  the  first  steps  towards  col- 
lecting around  himself  a  school,  benevolent  and  philanthropical 
everywhere  ;  of  inviolable  rectitude  in  his  business  and  social 
relations,  of  incorruptible  veracity  and  fearless  frankness  — 
such  are  the  fundamental  traits  of  a  character,  who  never  lent 
his  hand  to  anything  that  had  the  slightest  bearing  to  delusion 
and  injustice."  — ''  Studien"  p.  191. 

And  yet  Prof.  Schleiden  endeavored  to  prove  that  Sweden- 
borg had  been  insane  ! ! 

55.  ''  The  following  is  the  opinion  of  Coleridge  of  the 
charge  so  often  calumniously  alleged  against  Swedenborg,  that 


he  was  mad.  It  is  a  manuscript  note  in  Coleridge's  copy  of 
De  Cultu  et  Amore  Dei,  on  pages  4  to  6,  in  which  Sweden- 
borg briefly  states  his  doctrine  of  Forms.  'This,'  says 
Coleridge,  '  would  of  itself  serve  to  mark  Swedenborg  as  a 
man  of  philosophic  genius,  radicative  and  evolvent.  Much 
of  what  is  most  valuable  in  the  philosophic  works  of  Schelling, 
Schubert,  and  Eschermayer,  is  to  be  found  anticipated  in  tliis 
supposed  Dcmentato,  or  madman ;  O  thrice  happy  should  we 
be,  if  the  learned  and  teachers  of  the  present  day  were  gifted 
with  a  similar  madness, — a  madness,  indeed,  celestial,  and 
flowing  from  a  divine  mind  ! ! '  (S.  T.  Coleridge,  Sept.  22, 
1821,  Highgate.)  " — Coleridge's  Literary  Remains,  Vol.  iv. 
p.  424. 

56.  "  Since  Swedenborg's  death  all  terms  of  ignominy  and 
contempt  have  been  heaped  upon  him  ;  all  sects  have  agreed 
to  unite  to  despise  him ;  few,  few,  few  indeed  have  read  him ; 
but  how  far  fewer  have  studied  him.  Alas  !  in  most  instances, 
we  denounce  the  religion  or  the  religious  teacher  taxing  our 
energies,  our  thoughts,  our  affections  too  much.  Religion  is, 
according  to  some  teachers,  to  be  forever  and  forever  a  perpet- 
ually reiterated  and  reiterating  Alphabet ;  not  so  to  him  who 
attempts  to  pass  on  to  the  Grammar  of  Religion,  still  more  to 
him  who  dares  to  attempt  to  solve  the  deeper  Problems  of  Re- 
ligious History,  who  attempts  to  sound  some  of  the  heights, 
and  depths,  and  lengths,  and  breadths  of  religious  emotion 
and  experience,  of  Religious  Knowledge  and  Doctrine.  A 
thousand  times  we  have  been  compelled  to  ask.  What,  then, 
is  no  more  religious  experience  possible?  Will  the  Infinite 
Light  reveal  no  new  Relations  —  no  new  Illustrations  ? 

''Swedenborg  was  a  Mystic!  My  dear  sir,  what  is  a 
Mystic  ?  We  are  all  mystics  when  we  engage  in  some  opera- 
tion our  neighbor  does  not  understand.  'Tis  an  ignorant  word. 
What  a  shocking  mystic  is  an  expert  chemist,  perhaps  more 
so  an  expert  mathematician.  Every  art,  every  trade,  every 
science  is  mystic  to  the  uninitiated.  We  are  all  mystics  ;  we 
have  all  our  mystic  world ;  we  all  see  things  temporal  and 
eternal  with  our  own  individual  eyes ;  we  all  have  a  world 
into  which  our  friend  and  neiglibor  cannot  enter,  and  we  can 


58 


swedenborg's  character. 


SWEDENBORG  S   CHARACTER. 


59 


I  I 


all  see  clearly  in  that  world,  too,  although  it  is  a  region  of 
darkness  to  him.  Frequently,  when  you  use  the  term  mystic, 
you  only  express  your  own  impoverished  and  wretched  expe- 
riences. Translated,  it  means,  /  never  felt  that  — I  never 
experienced  that.  Especially  all  Christian  experience  is  mys- 
tical. A  mystic  is  one  who  moves  in  an  orhit  larger  than  his 
neighhors,  from  the  greater  weight  and  power  of  his  charac- 
ter.    In  this  sense,  Swcdenborg  was  a  mystic.  .  .  . 

"  Yet  in  another  sense  Swedenborg  was  no  Mystic ;  for  a 
mystic  is  too  self-contained  a  man,  usually;  perhaps  he  com- 
municates no  light ;  he  travels  in  his  own  orb,  but  he  does  not 
illuminate  other  minds :  this  is  the  difference  between  a  Mys- 
tic and  an  Apostle.     The  mystic  solitarily  absorbs  all  things 
within  himself;  the  apostle  receives  to  diffuse  from  himself. 
The  sin  of  Idle  self-contemplation  which  we  have  condemned 
is  the  charm  of  the  mystic's  life.     The  apostle  is  never  idle, 
aud  never  muses  within  himself,  but  the  fire  burns,  impelling 
to  action  and  energy.     The  mystic,  therefore,  from  his  intense 
egotism,  leaves  no  light  behind  him,  and  has  but  few  follow- 
ers, perhaps  none.     Tlie  apostle  prepares  a  road  for  his  suc- 
cessors;  strews  it  with  rich,  and  new,  and  obvious   ideas; 
carves  his  name  upon  the  rocks  in  the  way,  in  many  a  noble 
achievement  and  high-wrought  action  ;  and  erects  at  many  a 
doubting  turning,  a  faithful  and  truthful  finger-post ;  in  a  word, 
the  life  of  the  mystic  is  in  Speculation  —the  life  of  the  apostle 
is  in  Use.    We  shall  number  Swedenborg,  not  with  the  mystics, 
but  with  the  apostles.     He  broke  up  new  ground  ;  he  dissemi- 
nated new  ideas ;  he  has  never  been  without  a  band  of  fol- 
lowers ;  all  his  studies  and  writings  were  directed  to  the  useful ; 
his  energy  was  immense;     his  activity,  mental  and  bodily, 
indomitable.     He  was  an  apostle  ! 

''  One  thing  has  been  alleged  against  Swedenborg,  indeed, 
to  which  it  is  very  necessary  that  we  now  advert,  namely,  that 
he  was  Mad !  The  charge  of  insanity  is  one  very  easily  lev- 
elled against  a  character  whose  movements  we  do  not  clearly 
understand.  ^Ye  know  against  whom  the  words  were  used : 
'  He  hath  a  devil,  and  is  mad,  why  hear  ye  him  ? '  And  to  an 
illustrious  reasoner  it  was  once  said  :  '  Paul,  Paul,  thou  art  be- 
side thyself;  much  learning  hath  made  thee  mad.'     Strange, 


that  much  learning  should  make  a  man  mad ;  might  we  not 
rather  suppose  that  learning,  of  a  true  and  valuable  character, 
opened  to  the  soul  so  many  windows,  and  spread  out  before 
the  understanding  so  many  new  prospects  and  fields  of  spirit- 
ual light,  that  to  him  the  occupations  and  pursuits  of  the  men 
and  women  wedded  to  the  world  appeai'ed  as  comparatively 
insane  ? 

''  But  the  question  occurs,  What  is  insanity  ?    And  we  may 
perhaps  reply,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  the  morbid  exer- 
cise of  any  faculty  or  power  to  the  exclusion  of  other  fiiculties. 
There  are  very  few  sane  people  living ;  for  sanity  is  the  due 
exercise  of  our  ,avhole  manhood  —  body,  mind,  and  spirit  — 
the  frame,   the   intellect,   and   the  will   or   affections,  —  and 
it  is  obvious  that  this  high  sanity  can  only  be  in  a  state  where 
sin,  the  great  disjointer  and  deranger  of  humanity  —  sin,  which 
is   insanity,  is  excluded.     But  if  we  look   at   Swedenborg's 
career,  we  find  all  his  life  balanced  and  harmonized.     If  ever 
there  lived  a  man  who  might  claim  to  present  to  the  world  a 
completed  being,  he  was  the  man.     Can  you  convict  him  of 
Passion  ?     When  you  contradicted  him,  when  you  rejected  his 
doctrines,  when  Filenius  was  traitorous,  and  Ekbom  insolent, 
did  you  ever  see  the  wrathful  flame  mantle  on  the  old  man's 
features  ?     Milton  was  one  of  the  most  perfect  men,  and  we 
pay  a  higher  homage  to  him  than  to  almost  any  other  man  :  but 
the  anger  of  Milton  sometimes  sullies  the  glory  of  his  pa«-es. 
•No !  those  who  have  charged  our  writer  with  madness,  have  felt 
the  difficulty  of  the  position,  and  therefore  it  has  been  insisted 
by  some  writers,  that  he  must  have  been  possessed  by  a  devil ; 
to  this  conclusion  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ettrick,  M.  A.,  of  High  Barns 
near  Sunderland,  arrives,  when  he  says :  '  Swedenborg  does 
not  seem  to  have  really  labored  under  any  natural  derange- 
mcQt,  or  vulgar  insanity.      If  madness  of  any  kind  can  be 
rationally  imputed  to  him,  it  can  be  no  ordinary  insanity  or 
mere  derangement  of  intellect  from  bodily  or  even  mental 
disease.* "  *  —  E.  Paxton  Hood,  Swedenborg ;  a  Biography, 
pp.  157-163. 


*  Paxton  Hood  (pp.  1G3-1C9)  shows  how  this  report  of  Swedenborg's 
alleged  insanity  first  originated,  and  he  lays  it  at  the  door  of  the  cele- 
brated John  Wesley,  who  first  published  it  in  his  Arminian  Maga- 


60 


swedenborg's  character. 


swedenborg's  character. 


61 


57.  "  It  has  been  said  by  some,  and  received  implicitly, 
without  further  examination  by  others,  that  Swedenborg,  after 
receiving  his  extraordinary  commission,  was  mad,  and  became 
totally  deprived  of  his  rational  senses ;  but  this  insinuation  is 
such  a  palpable  contradiction  to  truth,  and  such  an  insult  to 
common  sense,  being  overruled  by  every  page  of  our  author's 
writings,  as  well  as  by  every  act  of  his  life  after  that 
period,  that  we  should  have  thought  it  altogether  unworthy 
our  notice,  were  we  not  aware  that  it  operates  powerfully 
with  many,  even  at  this  day,  to  prejudice  them  agmnst 
a  character  which  otherwise  they  would  revere,  and  against 
writings  from  wliich  they  would  otherwise  receive  the  most 
welcome  instruction,  whilst,  in  the  meantime,  they  can 
give  no  reasonable  account  of  their  prejudice,  nor  trace  its 
origin  to  any  better  source  than  the  unjust  calumny  uttered  of 
old  against  another  respectable  name :  '  Paul,  thou  art  beside 

sine  for  August,  1783,  p.  438,  on  the  authority  of  a  Mr.  Brockmer,  of 
London,  and  Mr.  Matlicsius,  a  Swedish  clergyman.  Mr.  Brockmer, 
when  interrogated  afterwards  by  Mr.  Hindmarsh,  denied  positively 
that  he  had  ever  made  this  statement  to  Mr.  Wesley,  and  the  Swedish 
clergyman  Mathesiu*?,  who  was  known  to  be  a  professed  enemy  of 
Swedenborg,  and  with  whom  the  whole  plot  seems  to  have  origin- 
ated, became  insane  himself  a  short  time  afterwards. 

A  similar  case  is  recorded  by  Prof.  Immanuel  Tafel  in  his  "  Open 
Letter  to  Prof.  Schleiden  of  Jena,"  who,  as  was  noticed  above,  likewise 
publicly  preferred  this  charge  against  Swedenborg.     Prof.  Tafel  says  : 

'♦  This  charge  of  insanity,  which  you  regard  as  a  new  discovery  of 
your  own,  is  in  reality  quite  old ;  it  was  made  by  others  before,  and 
among  these  by  two  academic  professors  who  pubhshed  it  in  their 
writings,  but  ended  by  becoming  insane  themselves.  The  first  is  said 
to  have  imagined  himself  to  be  a  goose ;  and  the  second,  who  (as  I 
know  from  the  very  best  of  authorities),  on  passing  through  Tubingen, 
exhibited  himself  there  to  the  professor  of  Zoology  as  a  natural  curi- 
osity, viz.  :  as  a  walking  statue  with  buttocks  of  steel,  died  quite 
recently  in  a  lunatic  asylum."—  ^'Offenes  Sendschreilen,  &c.,"  p.  79. 

The  whole  subject  of  Swedenborg's  alleged  insanity  will  be  found 
abundantly  discussed,  and  the  slander  exposed,  in  Rev.  S.  Noble's 
'' Appeal,"  (Sect,  v.,  pp.  249-282,  Americ.  edit.)  where  he  proves 
that  the  true  cause  of  the  origin  and  propagation  of  this  slander  is 
this  :  *'  that  it  is  felt  to  he  more  easy,  by  raising  the  cry  of  insanity^ 
to  prevent  mankind  from  examining  his  system,  than,  when  examined^ 
to  prevent  it  from,  being  embraced  by  the  candid  and  well-disposed:' 


thyself;  much  learning  doth  maJce  thee  mad: — Acts  xxvi.  24." 
Dr.  Hurd,  History  of  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  of  all  Nations, 
p.  705. 

58.  From  the  New  American  Encydopoedia, 
"  These  works  (the  scientific  and  philosophical  works  of 
Swedenborg)  afford  evidence  of  a  remarkably  well-balanced 
mind,  in  which  the  beautiful  and  the  practical,  poetry  and  ma- 
thematics, were  harmoniously  blended  together.  His  writings 
always  breathe  a  pure  devotional  spirit ;  and  persons  to  whom 
he  was  most  intimately  known,  of  high  and  low  rank,  bear 
testimony  to  the  excellence  of  his  private  character.  Tlie  fol- 
lowing Bides  of  Life  were  found  noted  down  in  several  of  his 
manuscripts,  evidently  intended  for  private  use,  as  they  are 
nowhere  met  with  in  his  published  works  :  —  1.  Often  to  read 
and  meditate  on  the  Word  of  God.  2.  To  submit  everything 
to  the  will  of  Divine  Providence.  3.  To  observe  in  every- 
thing a  propriety  of  behavior,  and  always  to  keep  the  con- 
science clear.  4.  To  discharge  with  fidelity  the  functions  of 
his  employments  and  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  to  render 
himself  in  all  things  useful  to  society." 


59.   Professor  Matter,  in  alluding  to  these  "Rules  of 
Life,"  says : — 

"  In  these  rules  of  life  of  Swedenborg,  we  find  that  which 
characterizes  best  his  life :  these  studies  of  the  sacred  texts, 
which  led  him  to  such  a  rare  illumination;  this  constant 
vigilance  over  his  soul,  which  gave  to  him  in  reality,  besides 
a  clear  conscience,  an  extraordinary  serenity  of  mind ;  this 
constant  application  to  what  he  calls  the  decorum  of  life, 
which  made  his  intercourse  so  agreeable  to  everybody ;  this 
earnest  devotion  to  his  public  duties,  which  inspired  him  with 
a  capacity  of  doing  immense  works  for  his  country  ;  and,  I 
add,  which  induced  him  to  resign  his  commission,  when  he 
believed  himself  invested  with  a  new  mission,  which  claimed 
all  his  energies,  and  all  his  time." — Vie  de  Swedenhorq,  pp. 
20-21.  .  ^  ^^ 

6 


/ 


S 


62 


swedenborg's  character. 


60.   Dr.  Wilkinson  suras  up  Swedenborg's  character,  as 

follows : — 

"  The  upper  parts  of  Swedenborg*s  character  rose  from  the 
ground-work  of  excellent  citizenship  and  social  qualities. 
Naturally  inoffensive  and  conservative,  he  was  at  one  with 
the  o-eneral  polity,  and  never  dreamt  of  innovations  that  should 
interfere  with  the  State.  Even  his  theology  was  referable,  in 
his  view,  to  an  existing  authority  in  the  Bible,  and  in  harmony 
with  the  earliest  creeds  of  the  church,  so  far  as  they  went. 
lie  lent  himself  freely  to  his  family  ties,  but  never  allowed 
them  to  interrupt  his  justice.  As  a  friend  he  was  staunch, 
and  equally  independent.  The  sentiment  of  duty  ruled  him 
without  appeal  in  his  public  as  in  his  private  affairs :  he  had 
no  acquaintances  but  society  and  his  country  when  their 
interests  were  involved.  In  disseminating  his  religious  ideas, 
he  was  open  and  above-board :  placed  his  books  within  the 
reach  of  the  Christian  w^orld,  and  there  left  them,  to  Provi- 
dence and  the  readers.  By  no  trick  did  he  ever  seek  to  force 
attention,  and  intrigue  had  no  part  in  his  character.  Notwith- 
standing his  attachment  to  his  first  admirers,  he  kept  his  own 
space  around  him,  and  was  not  impeded  by  any  followers. 
Tender  and  amicable  in  nature,  he  was  always  distant  enough 
to  liave  that  large  arm's-length  that  so  peculiar  a  workman 
required.  Ambition  he  must  have  had  in  some  sense,  but  so 
transpierced  and  smitten  with  zeal  for  his  fellows,  that  we  can 
only  call  it  public  love.  The  power  of  order  and  combina- 
tion, is  a  main  feature  in  his  capacious  intellect ;  those  who 
open  him  as  a  visionary,  are  struck  with  the  masculine  con- 
nection which  he  everywhere  displays.  His  sensual  nature 
was  evidently  an  obedient  though  powerful  vehicle  to  his  mind. 
He  was  perfectly  courageous  in  that  kind  that  his  mission 
needed  ;  firm,  but  unobtrusive,  in  all  courts  and  companies, 
and  ever  bending  whither  his  conscience  prescribed.  Religion 
was  the  mild  element  that  governed  the  rest,  converting  them 
past  their  own  natures  by  its  lively  flames,  and  he  walked  with 
the  constant  sentiment  of  God  between  him  and  his  fellows, 
giving  and  receiving  dignity  among  God's  children.  His  life 
indeed  is  not  heroic  in  the  old  fashion  ;  but  take  his  account 


swedenborg's  character. 


63 


of  it,  and  he  has  travelled  far  and  perilled  much :  he  has  seen 
and  been  what  would  bleach  the  lips  of  heroes.  Whether 
you  receive  his  account  or  not,  you  must  own  that  his  struc- 
ture was  heroic,  for  how  otherwise  could  he  have  outlived 
those  tremendous  '  fancies '  of  heaven  and  hell.  But  let  that 
pass,  and  we  still  claim  him  as  a  hero  in  the  new  campaign 
of  peace.  The  first  Epic  of  the  Study  is  the  song  that  will 
celebrate  him.  There  are  many  simple  problems,  but  how 
few  dare  face  them  r  it  is  more  difficult  to  be  courageous  there 
than  before  batteries  of  cannon :  it  is  more  impossible  to  the 
most  to  lead  the  forlorn  hopes  of  thought,  discouraged  since 
history  began,  to  victory,  than  to  mount  the  scaling-ladder  in 
the  imminent  deadly  breach.  To  do  the  one  requires  only 
command  of  body ;  to  perform  the  other  needs  courage  over 
the  brain  itself;  fighting  against  organism  and  stupidity  older 
and  more  terrifying  than  armies.  Select  your  problem,  and 
ask  the  world  round  who  will  besiege  it  until  it  cedes  the 
truth,  and  you  will  soon  find  that  of  all  the  soldiers  there  is 
none  who  does  not  straightway  show  fatigue  and  sob  impos- 
sible, which  are  cowardice  under  its  literary  name.  In  these 
ages  there  has  been  no  man  who  stood  up  so  manfully  to  his 
problems  as  Swedenborg,  who  wielded  his  own  brains  so  like 
a  spirit,  or  knew  so  experimentally  that  labor  rises  over  death. 
Therefore  we  name  him  Leader  of  the  world's  free  thouo-ht 
and  free  press ;  the  Captain  of  the  heroes  of  the  writing- 
desk." — Life  of  Swedenhorg^  pp.  245-247. 

In  his  "  Introduction  to  the  Economy  of  the  Animal  King- 
dom^'' Dr.  Wilkinson  describes  Swedenborg's  character  as 
manifested  in  his  writings  : — 

"It  would  be  an  omission  not  to  notice  the  dogmatic 
character  of  Swedenborg's  'writings  generally.  '  He  speaks  as 
one  having  authority,  and  not  as  the  scribes.'  What  Bacon 
says  is  '  the  true  way,'  '  he  proposes  things  candidly,  with 
more  or  less  asseveration,  as  they  stand  in  his  own  judgment.'* 
Yet,  notwithstanding  this  boldness,  no  writer  gives  us  a 
gi'eater  sense  of  modesty  than  Swedenborg.  The  absence  of 
self  from  his  pages, — the  infinitely  small  consideration  which 


*  tt 


Advancement  of  Learning,"  prelim.,  p.  Iviii. 


64 


swedenborg's  character. 


swedenborg's  character. 


65 


the  ego  there  claims  either  morally  or  intellectually, — is  the 
earnest  of  great  humbleness  ;  and  where  this  is  felt,  the 
calmest  affirmations  lose  the  character  of  self-complacency, 
and  are  justly  taken  as  but  the  measure  of  the  love  of  truth. 
Besides  which,  moral  ideas,  —  and  it  is  with  these  that 
Swedenborg  deals  even  when  it  is  least  apparent, — by  their 
own  necessity  require  positive  statement,  and  introduce  even 
into  their  correlatives  in  physics  a  tone  of  certainty  and  digni- 
fied injunction :  even  nature,  as  the  exponent  of  the  Com- 
mandments, partakes  of  their  absoluteness,  and  dictates  her 
laws  to  mankind. 

"  The  temper  of  mind  apparent  in  these  works  is  also 
remarkable.  For  Swedenborg,  the  philosopher,  w^as  read  and 
commended  by  no  one,  and  still  he  continued  to  travel  onwards 
with  a  benignity  unembittered  by  censure  and  imdiminished 
by  neglect.  His  practical  labors  were  received  with  applause 
by  his  countrymen,  and  even  procured  him  somewhat  of  a 
European  reputation.  But  his  affections  were  not  committed 
to  them.  From  youth  upwards  he  conceived  and  began  his 
peculiar  philosophy,  and  here  the  favor  of  the  learned  ceased, 
at  first  declining  into  faint  praise,  which  was  soon  exchanged 
for  undisguised  opposition.  Influence  over  men's  minds  he 
had  none ;  and  judging  from  the  past,  it  seems  that  but  for 
his  theology,  his  philosophical  works  might  have  perished  on 
the  shelf  where  his  immediate  contemporaries  placed  them. 
But  if  he  failed  to  impress  the  world,  its  apathy  did  not  affect 
him.  He  knew  the  state  in  which  it  was  sunk,*  and  only 
worked  the  harder  when  that  knowledge  w^as  confirmed,  by 
his  views  being  treated  with  contempt  or  neglect.  Amid  the 
surrounding  darkness  he  was  cheerful  and  sunny  in  heart  and 
mind,  and  his  pages  were  brightened  with  his  own  happy 
temper.  We  are  therefore  sure  of  his  veracity  when  he  avows 
his  carelessness  of  fame,  and  his  power  of  waiting  to  be  heard, 
though  centuries  should  elapse  before  the  public  ear  was  dis- 
engaged. Not  that  he  was  supported  by  complacent  vanity, 
the  insane  king  of  an  imaginary  kingdom,  or  with  deep  pride 

*  Compare  the  motto  which  Swedenborg  adopted  from  Seneca,  and 
which  is  contained  in  No.  4  of  the  present  collection. 


despised  the  opinions  and  overlooked  the  immortal  concerns 
of  others :    but  aware  of  the  world's  disabilities,  which  can 
only  be  removed  by  slow  degrees,  and  not  answerable  for 
them,  he  was  entitled,  on  the  other  hand,  to  all  the  delight  that 
an  open  vision  of  truth  imparts  to  whoever  sincerely  obeys 
and  loves  it.     He  knew  that  he  was  before  his  age,  and  had 
no  quarrel  with  it,  because  of  its  misfortune ;  but  committed 
all  to  Providence,  contentedly  performing  his  own  allotment 
of  arduous  duties.      Therefore   he   says  at  the  close  of  the 
'Principia,' — '  In  writing  the  present  work,  I  have  had  no  aim 
at  the  applause  of  the  learned  world,  nor  at  the  acquisition 
of  a  name  or  popularity.     To  me  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference 
whether  I  win  a  favorable  opinion  of  every  one  or  of  no  one 
whether  I  gain  much  or  no  commendation ;    such  things  are 
not  objects  of  regard  to  one  whose  mind  is  bent  on  truth  and 
true  philosophy ;  should  I,  therefore,  gain  the  assent  or  appro- 
bation of  others,  I  shall  receive  it  only  as  a  confirmation  of 
my  having  pursued  the  truth.     I  have  no  wish  to  persuade 
any  one  to  lay  aside  the  principles  of  those  illustrious  and 
talented  authors  who  adorn  the  world,  and  in  place  of  their 
principles  to  adopt  mine  ;  for  this  reason   it  is  that  I  have  not 
made  mention  so  much  as  of  one  of  them,  or  even  hinted  at 
his  name,  lest  I  should  injure  his  feelings,  or  seem  to  impu"-a 
his  sentiments,  or  to  derogate  from  the  praise  which  others 
bestow  upon  him.     If  the  principles  I  have  advanced  have 
more  of  truth  in  them  than  those  which  are  advocated  by 
others  ;  if  they  are  truly  philosophical  and  accordant  with  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  the  assent  of  the  public  will  follow  in 
due  time  of  its  own  accord  ;  and  in  this  case,  should  I  fail  to 
gain  the  assent  of  those  whose  minds,  being  prepossessed  by 
other  principles,  can  no  longer  exercise  an  impartial  judgment, 
still  I  shall  gain  the  assent  of  those  who  are  able  to  distinguish 
the  true  from  the  untrue,  if  not  in  the  present,  at  least  in 
some  future  age.     Truth  is  unique,  and  will  speak  for  itself. 
Should  any  one  undertake  to  impugn  my  sentiments,  I  have  no 
wish  to  oppose  him ;  but  in  case  he  should  desire  it,  I  shall  be 
happy  to  explain  my  principles  and  reasons  more  at  large. 
What  need,  however,  is  there  of  words  ?     Let  the  thing  spe^k 
for  itself.     If  what  I  have  said  be  true,  why  should  I  be  eager 

6* 


1 


66 


SWEDENBORG  S   CHARACTER. 


to  defend  it  ? — surely  truth  can  defend  itself.     If  what  I  have 
said  be  false,  it  would  be  a  degrading  and  silly  task  to  defend 
it.     Why  then  should   I  make  myself  an  enemy  to  any  one, 
or  place  myself  in  opposition  to  any  one  ?  *  *     And  again  he 
observes  in  the  '  Economy,' — '  Of  what  consequence  is  it  to 
me  that  I  should  persuade  any  one  to  embrace  my  opinions  ? 
Let  his  own  reason  persuade  him.     I  do  not  undertake  this 
work  for  the  sake  of  honor  or  emolument ;  both  of  which  I 
shun  rather  than  seek,  because  they  disquiet  the  mind,  and 
because  I  am  content  with  my  lot :  but  for  the  sake  of  truth, 
which  alone  is  immortal,  and  has  its  portion  in  the  most  per- 
fect order  of  nature ;  hence  in  the  series  of  the  ends  of  the 
universe  from   the  first  to  the  last,  or  to  the  glory  of  God, 
which  ends  He  promotes ;  thus  I  surely  know  Who  it  is  that 
must  reward  me/f     Of  his  sincerity  in  tliese  declarations,  as 
we  before  remarked,  the  repose  which  pervades  his  books,  and 
the  hearty  pursuit  of   his  subject  at  all  times,  bear  incon- 
testable witness.     '-His  life,'  says   Sandel,   'was  one  of  the 
happiest  that  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  man  ; '  |  and  a  prolonged 
observation  of  his  writings  enables  us  thoroughly  to  believe  it. 
Because  he  esteemed  opinion  and  fame  at  only  their  proper 
value,  and  truth  as  an  object  far  more  real,  so  when  the  need 
came,  he  gladly  renounced  liis  great  possessions  as  a  man  of 
learning,  and  never  once  looking  back,  yielded  himself  to  the 
service  of  the  new  cause  to  which  his  remaining  life  was  to 
be  devoted.     It  is  therefore  not  unaccountable,  though  certainly 
without  parallel,  that  one  who  had  solved  the  problems  of 
centuries,  and  pushed  the  knowledge  of  causes  into  regions 
whose  existence  no  other   philosopher  suspected,  should  at 
length    abandon    the    field    of    science,    without   afterwards 
alluding  so  much  as   once  to  the  mighty  task  he  had  sur- 
mounted.    This  was  in  accordance  with  his  mind  even  in  his 
scientific  days  :  the  presence  of  truth  was  what  pleased  him ; 
and  he  always  joyfully  exchanged  his  light  for  a  gi-eater  and 


*  Part  iii.,  Appendix, 
t  Part  II.,  n.  218. 

X  '•  Eulogium  on  Swedonborg,"  pronounced  by  Sandel  in  the  name 
of  the  Iloyal  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Stockhohn,  October  7,  1772. 


SWEDENBORG*S  CHARACTER. 


67 


purer,  even  though  cherished  thoughts  had  to  die  daily,  as  the 
condition  of  passing  into  the  higher  illumination. 

"  Furthermore,  there  never  was  a  man  who  belonged  less 
than  he  to  his  own  age  or  nation,  notwithstanding  he  depended 
greatly  upon  the  physical  knowledge  of  his  contemporaries, 
was  widely  read  in  philosophy  also,  and  made  free  use  of  what- 
ever he  found  in  other  writers  that  was  true  and  to  the  purpose. 
But  his  genius  was  more  than  his  materials  ;  '  materiem  super- 
ahit  opus.*  He  wielded  with  ease  the  solid  masses  of  learning, 
and  they  obeyed  new  motions  and  ran  in  systematic  orbits. 
The  naked  rocks  of  science  received  a  quickening  climature, 
and  greenness  and  life  came  upon  them.  The  season  was  ripe, 
and  the  personal  conditions  fulfilled,  and  the  willing  earth 
yielded  her  increase  as  to  the  Jews  of  old.  The  acquired 
goodness  of  the  individual  became  the  spring  of  his  genius ; 
and  hence  he  stood  related  to  the  world  as  the  creation  of 
God,  and  to  man  as  his  unrivalled  creature,  and  went  out  from 
the  soil  that  bore  him,  so  that  Scandinavia  was  his  mother  no 
longer.  He  became  the  example  of  a  nobler  energy  than  that 
which  can-ied  the  Swedish  kings  over  hostile  Europe ;  an 
energy  which  sustained  him  to  bear  the  lamp  of  humanizing 
science  into  the  darkest  places  of  the  earth,  where  the  phan- 
toms of  superstition  terrify,  and  obscene  atheism  flits  around 
on  subtlest  pinions.  He  showed  a  faith  in  the  real  God,  and 
in  the  spiritual  existence  and  interests  of  mankind,  to  which 
the  profoundest  homage  of  the  North  to  her  mythologic  Odin, 
and  her  chiefs'  and  wan'iors'  fastest  belief  in  the  promised 
Walhalla,  are  but  weak,  shadowy  and  unsubstantial.  The 
triumphs  he  gained  in  the  name  of  truth,  and  that  his  writings 
will  gain  in  the  coming  ages,  are  fraught  with  importance 
which  far  eclipses  the  proudest  victories  of  his  martial  coun- 
trymen. For  it  was  his  happy  lot,  not  to  fight  temporal 
battles  for  Protestantism,  or  to  be  the  prop  of  an  old  religion, 
whose  very  victories  often  precluded  its  communion  with  the 
Prince  of  Peace ;  but  to  be  the  means  of  averting  destruction 
from  the  whole  race  of  man,  and  of  securing  to  all  a  hold  on 
Christianity  that  can  never  fail ;  and  in  the  course  of  this 
instrumentality,  to  walk  undismayed  in  that  other  world  which 
has  been  lost  to  knowledge  for  thousands  of  years,  or  pre- 


68 


swedenborg's  character. 


served  only  in  the  unwritten  parts  of  imagination,  the  misun- 
derstood depth  of  ancient  fable,  or  the  narrations  of  the  earlier 
poets.  Hence  he  is  the  first  of  the  moderns  to  penetrate  the 
secrets  of  nature,  the  first  also  to  be  admitted  to  the  hidden 
things  of  the  spiritual  world :  the  two  spheres  of  knowledge 
being  realized  at  once  ;  wherefore  henceforth  he  is  our  earnest, 
that  since  we  are  now  on  the  right  track,  and  the  works  of 
God  arc  become  our  heritage,  the  progression  in  both  may  be 
practical  and  unending."  —  ^^Introduction  to  the  Econormj  of 
the  Animal  Kingdom"  pp.  Ixxxvi-xc. 


IV. 


SWEDENBORG'S    STYLE. 

61.     "Accustomed  as  we  are  to  the  scientific  style  in  cur- 
rent use,  Swedenborg's  works  may  seem  imaginative  from 
richness  of  illustrations  ;  from  the  decoration  clothing  his  ideas ; 
from  the  unexpected  beauty  which  often  comes  forth  during  a 
serious  argument ;  and  from  the  frequent  recourse  to  analogies. 
For  the  usual  mode  of  presenting  knowledge  is  abstract,  naked, 
passionless,   and  solitary.      But   herein   Swedenborg   follows 
nature  with  greater  reverence  than  the  orthodox  student.    For 
as  in  objects  there  is  no  dryness  like  what  pervades  the  descrip- 
tions in  books,  so  the  latter  are  imaginative,  by  reason  of  the 
mean  dress  superinduced  upon  the  subject ;  meanness  of  imag- 
ination being  imagination   still.     Only  if  the  planet  were  an 
unvaried  Sahara,  could  such  descriptions  be  other  than  imag- 
inative.   Nature,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  real  world,  is  liberal 
and  lovely,  adorned  as  beseems  the  destined  bride  of  humane 
philosophy.     Thus  she  is  rich  in  collateral  illustrations,  be- 
cause every  series  contains  numerous  elements  that  are  su"-- 
gestive  of  other  series,  and  which  serve  for  links  with  other 
series  ;  all  things  being  involved  in  all  things,  as  Anaxagoras 
wisely  intimated.     Nature  is  also  clothed  in  ornament ;   and 
all  things  of  good  use  tend  to  ornament ;  so  that  beauty  is  a 
portion  of  her  works ;  and  it  comes  out  ever  and  anon,  like  a 
bright  flower  from  a  sober  stem,  when  we  least  expect  it : 
whence  also  surprise  and  wonder,  as  incitements  to  man,  are 
distinct  intentions  in  nature.     Moreover  nature  is  a  world  of 
analogies ;  for  every  fact  and  substance  is  a  distinct  propor- 
tional between  certain  others,  which  it  combines  in  a  rational 
equation ;  so  that  nature  resolves  the  discords  of  things  by 
innumerable  middle  terms ;  and  especially  does  she  suggest 

(69)      • 


s 


\ 


A 


70 


swedenborg's  style. 


swedenborg's  style. 


71 


infinite  analogies  to  the  mind  of  man,  because  this  is  tlie 
greatest  analogical  term   or  proportion  that  can  exist;   the 
medium  between  soul  and  body,  spirit  and  matter,  the  highest 
sphere  and  the  lowest ;  reason  or  ratio  being  no  other  than 
the  constant  balance  of  the  inward  with  the  outward ;  or  that 
which  reconciles  variety  with  unity,  fact  with  theory,  the  world 
with  heaven ;  or  which  sees  one  principle  in  many  things,  or 
in  all  things;  and  in   all  things  a  brotherhood,  co-ordination 
or  analogy  by  virtue   of  their  common  paternity  in  the   one 
omuific  b'eginning  and  end.    On  these  grounds  we  suggest  that 
any  meanness  in  tone  or  manner  of  scientific  works,  amounts 
to  unworthy  treatment  of  nature,  and  is  chargeable  to  the  score 
of  imagination,  substituting  its  dreams  for  the  face  of  creation, 
and  preferring  barrenness,  so  it  be  its  own,  to  that  various 
beauty  which  is  the  child  of  God.'*— J.  J.  Garth  Wilkinson. 
in  his  Introduction  to  the  ''Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,'' 
p.  Ixxiii. 

62.     From  a  Swedish  periodical  entitled  "  Mimer.** 
The  following  ably  drawn   sketch  of  Swedenborg,  as  the 
Expounder  of  the  Good,  the  True,  and  the  Beautiful,  is  written 
by  Prof.  Atterbom,  of  Upsal,  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
poets  of  Sweden  :  — 

"  Three  celebrated  men  in  Sweden  have  distinguished  them- 
selves by  writing  sublimely  and  beautifully  on  the  beautiful; 
Sivcdenhorg,  to  whom  LovE  was  everything,  as  well  as  the 
relation  establish^  by  love  between  the  True  and  the  Good  ; 
Thorild,  to  whom  Natltie  was  everything,  as  well  as  the 
relation  established  by  nature  between  Power  and  Harmony  ; 
Ehrensvdrd,  to  whom  Art  was  everything,  as  well  as  the  rela- 
tion established  by  art  between  Genius  and  the  Ideal.     In 
the  paper  before  us,  the  theosopher  Swedenborg  is  considered 
chiefly  as  a  thinker  and  writer  on  the  heautiful.     The  cesthetic 
views  of  Ehrensvard  and  Thorild  are  easily  accessible,  partly 
from  their  own  writings,  and  partly  from  extracts  and  exposi- 
tions, which  have  lately  appeared.     But  Swedenborg's  views 
are  not  so  easily  accessible :  the  cause  is  in  a  twofold  diffi- 
culty ;  first,  because  his  aesthetic  view  of  the  world  cannot  be 
properly  seen,  before  we  have  become  acquainted  with  his 


views  in  general ;  and  secondly,  because  he  has  not  devoted  a 
particular  work  or  section  to  the  subject.     From  a  multitude  of 
extensive  works,  written  in  Latin,  we   must  bring  together 
what  he  has  said  on  this  subject.     His  ideas  on  this  topic  are 
scattered  in  his  treatises  on  his  principal  doctrines,  especially 
concerning  Life  as  being  Love  ;  on  God   and  his  unity,  as 
being  the  original,  prototypal,  one  only  divine  Man,  from  whom 
all  finite  created  men  derive  that  which  constitutes  them  men ; 
on  the  creation  of  all  beings  and  substances,  as  receptacles  of 
Life  and  Love,  and  on  the  destination  of  man,  who,  created 
with  a  ivill  for  the  reception  of  the  Divine  wisdom,  has  a  finite 
esse  and  existere,  corresponding,  when  constituted  in  order,  to 
tlie  infinite  esse  and  existere  in  God ;  on  the  Good  and  the 
True  ;  on  the  Spheres,  Degrees,  and  Correspondences  of  cre- 
ation :    on  the  relation  between  the  different  circles  of   life, 
descending  by  degrees  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  of  created 
existences,  and  connected  together  in  one  universal  harmonic 
whole  by  the  laws  of  analogy  and  correspondence  ;  but  espec- 
ially in  that  part  of  his  writings  in  which  he  represents  mar- 
riage as  the  emblem  of  the  eternal  unfon  in  God  of  Love  and 
Wisdom,  and  likewise  of   the  conjunction   between    himself 
and  his  church  as  grounded  in  that  union  established  in  the 
minds  of  men.     In  describing  this  delightful  union,  which  is 
the  ground  and  source  of  all  virtue  and  happiness  to  the  intel- 
ligent universe,  Swedenborg  says  much  respecting  the  angels, 
and  the  state  of  harmony  and  bliss  in  which  they  live.     In 
treating  of  these  subjects,   he  was  led  to  exhibit  loveliness 
and  beauty  in  its  objective  form  in  the  persons  of  angels,  who 
were  once  men  upon  earth,  but  who,  becoming  regenerate,  that 
IS,  filled  as  to  their  wills  with  the  divine  love,  and  as  to  their 
understandings  with  the  divine  wisdom,  are  in  the  enjoyment 
of  that  state  in  which  all  is  harmony,  perfection,  and  bliss, 
and  which  is  properly  called  heaven  ;  for  all  the  affections  and 
dispositions  of  the  soul  are  imaged  and  reflected  in  their  per- 
sonal forms  of  loveliness  and  beauty.     It  is  here  where  the 
heautiful  in  mind,  in  nature,  and  in  art,  has  its  origin,  whence 
descending  into  the  ultimate  spheres  and  regions  of  creation, 
called  the  natural  world,  it  gives  rise  to  every  thing  beautiful 
and  lovely  we  behold.     Swedenborg  thus  traces  the  origin  of 


72 


SWEDENBORG*S   STYLE. 


science  aud  art  to  the  great  first  Cause,  and  to  see  the  relation 
which  they  bear  to  the  Divine  Wisdom  is  the  parent  of  all 
knowledge,  science,  and  genuine  philosophy.  .  .  . 

"  The  most  beautiful,  as  to  style,  which  Swedenborg  ever 
wrote,  is  the   '  Worship  and  Love  of  God,*  which  is  a  kind  of 
middle  thing  between  a  philosophic  treatise  and  romance,  on 
the  origin  of  the  earth,  on  the  golden  age  of  nature,  and  of 
man,  on  paradise,  on  the  birth,  youth,  education,  and  love 
of  Adam  and  Eve.     This,  of  all  Swcdeuborg's  works,  is  that 
in  which  the  Beautiful  is  most  conspicuous.     It  is  not  only 
written  in  a  brilliant  and  harmonious  latinity,  but  with  so 
much  poetic  life  and  inspiration,  that  if  divided  amongst  a 
dozen  poets,  it  would  be  sufficient  to  fix  every  one  of  them  on 
the  heaven  of  poesy  as  stars  of  the  first  magnitude.     This,  at 
least,  is  certain,  that  the  more  we   consider  his  writings  in 
relation  to  Philosophy   and  Aesthetics,    the  more   we   must 
admit,    that    amongst    much    dross,*    there   is    considerable 
quantity  of  pure  and  solid  gold.     The  holy  and  exalted  state 
of  mind  in   which  he   comprehended   and  contemplated  the 
structure  and  order  of  Hie  universe,  and  the  pure  and  lofty, 
yet  simple  and  intelligible  manner  in  which  he  has  treated  his 
subjects  and  presented  his  views,  are  perfectly  worthy  of  a 
divinely   inspired  seer.     ...     In   proportion  as   we  learn 
properly  to  understand  the  writings  of  Swedenborg,  we  shall 
find  them  full  of   scientific  worth,  rich  in  materials  of  the 
beautiful  for  poetry,    and   highly   honorable    to    his    native 
country." 

63.  The  following  beautiful  sketch  of  Swedenborg's  "  Wor- 
ship and  Love  of  God"  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Wilkinson,  is  a 
good  specimen  of  his  style,  and  substantiates  the  declaration 
of  Mr.  Emerson,  who  said  that  this  author  was  among  the 
foremost  of  English  writers,  now  living.  (See  also  Fraser's 
Magazine,  February,  1857,  on  the  same  subject.) 

*  "From  this  it  plainly  appears  that  the  author  of  this  paper  is  no 
receiver  of  the  Theological  works  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  otherwise 
he  would  not  speak  of  dross ;  we  must  consequently  consider  his 
judgment  as  so  much  the  more  impartial." — (Editor  of  the  "Docu- 
ments.") 


swedenborg's  style. 


73 


"  Nothing  can  be  more  vernal  than  the  earlier  portion  of 
this  work ;  °the  reader  is  guided  deeper  and  deeper  into  a 
delicious  embowerment,  and  treads  the  carpets  of  a  golden 
acre.     Every  clod  and  leaf,  grove,  stream,  and  a  multitude  of 
rejoicino-  inhabitants,  all  the  dews,  atmospheres,  and  skyey 
influences,  the  very  stars  of  the  firmament,  busily  mmister 
with  a  latent  love,  and  each  with  a  native  tact  and  understand- 
in-,  to  the  coming  heir  of  the  world,  the  son  of  earth,  the 
mhid  in  a  human  form,  who  can  look  from  the  paradise  of 
earth  to  the  paradise  of  heaven,  and  venerate  and  adore  the 
Creator,  returning  to  God  immortal  thanks  for  himself  and  all 
things.     At  last,  in  the  central  grove,  in  the  most  temperate 
re-ion  of  the  earth,  where  the  woven  boscage  broke  the  heat 
of^day,  and  so  '  induced  a  new  spring  under  the  general  one  * ; 
and  where  the  gushing  streamlets  veined  the  area,  and  lifted 
by  the  sun  in  kindliest   vapors,    hung  upon  the  leaves,  and 
descended  in  continual  dews,— in  this  intimate  temple  of  the 
general  garden,  lo,  the  tree  of  life,  and  the  arboreal  womb  of 
the  nascent  human  race.     Truly  a  bold  Genesis  ;  but  the  steps 
that  lead  to  it,  though  beautiful  as  sylvan  alleys,  are  also  of 
lo-ical  pavement,  and  the  appreciating  reader,  for  the  time  at 
any  rate,  is  carried  well  pleased  along  in  the  flow  and  series 
of  the  strong-linked  narrative.     ...    It  is  in  the  philoso- 
phical  narrative  that  Swedenborg  has  shown  truly  surprising 
powers  which  we  may  challenge  literature  to  surpass :  so  far 
as  this  extends,  the  work  is  a  great  and  rushing  inspiration." 
— Li/e  of  Swedenborg,  pp.  64-65,  American  edit. 

64.  We  shall  now  hear  E.  Paxton  Hood  descanting  upon 

the  same  theme  : — 

"  In  this  work  Swedenborg  throws  away  the  crucible,  the 
mathematical  instrument,  and  the  dissecting  knife,  and  sings, 
so  to  speak,  a  lofty  hymn  in  honor  of  the  creation.  This 
work  is  the  most  exalted  in  its  style  of  all  Swedenborg's 
works ;  the  imagination  and  the  fancy  flame  and  blaze  over 
its  pa-es,  and,  indeed,  it  gives  forth  in  poetry  what  the 
'  PHncipia'  and  the  '  Animul  Kingdom'  have  given  m  prose. 
...  In  reading  it  we  walk  along  as  through  a  vast  tropical 
forest.     We  feeUhe  warm,  warm  sun  of  the  young  world 

T 


74 


swedenborg's  style. 


even  through  the  thick  massive  folicage  ;  the  leaves  quiver  and 
rustle  with  a  wonderful  and  Eolian  music.  And  what  gorge- 
ousness  in  the  spicy  and  gummy  trees,— the  ground  too,  how 
soft  and  mossy  ;  we  see  around  us  the  flashing  of  innumerable 
pinions  of  birds,  bright,  swift  and  glancing  in  their  plumage. 
We  cannot  read  the  first  chapters  without  feeling  that  we  are 
transported  to  the  rich  and  vernal  solitudes  of  Young  Time, 

*  When  the  radiant  morn  of  creation  broke, 
And  the  earth  in  the  smile  of  God  awoke ; 
And  the  empty  realms  of  darkness  and  death 
Were  moved  thro'  the  depths  by  His  mighty  breath.' 

"  And  we  like  the  idea  of  the  Perpetual  Paradise,  and 
would  not  wish  the  argument  for  the  swift  flight  of  the  infant 
world  around  the  sun  destroyed. 

''  A  forest  world !  a  forest  of  beauty !  But  a  forest  of 
truths  too.  The  aphorisms  hang  upon  the  pages  of  the  book 
like  the  luscious  ripe  fruit  upon  the  trees.  Truly  among  the 
works  of  Swedenborg  it  occupies  a  very  inconsiderable  place ; 
for  its  province  is  rather  imagination  than  logic, — rather  the 
poetry  of  Truth  than  truth  itself;  but  it  is  a  rich  pomegi\anate, 
golden  without,  blood-red  beauty  within.  It  is  a  book  of 
seeds,  of  seminal  principles  and  figures,— the  languages  gush 
along  in  lines  of  light  and  fire.  And  how  alive  it  is— how 
the  world  is  peopled  by  the  poet — how  the  mind  itself  is 
peopled  by  distinct  beings  and  inhabitants  and  actors  ;  and  the 
book  is  balanced  in  all  its  parts  by  the  weight  of  the  strong 
iudixment  which  everv  imaginative  intellect  possesses." — 
Swedenborg  :  a  Biography,  &c.,  pp.  88,  94-95. 

65.  Concerning  the  style  of  Swedenborg  in  his  scientific 
works  generally,  Dr.  Wilkinsok  has  the  following : — 

"  Wc  find  increased  life  in  Swedenborg's  style  as  we  pro- 
ceed with  his  works.  The  Principia  is  clear,  felicitous, 
though  somewhat  repetitious,  and  occasionally  breaks  forth 
into  a  beautiful  but  formal  eloquence.  The  ancient  mythology 
lends  frequent  figures  to  the  scientific  process,  and  the  author's 
treatment  would  seem  to  imply  the  belief  that  in  the  genera- 
tion of  the  gods,  there  was  imbedded  a  hint  of  the  origin  of 


swedenborg's  sttle. 


75 


the  world.     Occasionally  subjects  of  unpromising  bok  are 
'vested  with  sublime  proportions,   as   when  he  hkens  the 
iematical  or  natural  point  to  a  '  two-faced  Janus,  wh.eh 
^oks  on  either  side  towards  either  universe,  both  mto  infin  e 
and  into  finite  immensity.'     The  manner  of  the  Outhr^ofthe 
5«.c  is  not  dissimilar  to  that  of  ^'Ae  Pnnap-,  on^  ess 
elaborate,  and  somewhat  more  round  and  hberal.     The  style 
of  ne  Eco,^omy,  however,  displays  the  full  cour.hness  of  a 
ma<.ter -free,    confident,    confiding;    self-complacent,    but 
l;ys  aspiring;  at  home  in  his  thoughts,  tho"Sl.  voya;,mS 
throu.'h  uutravelled   natures ;     then    most  swift  in   mot, on 
onwards  when  most  at  rest  in  some  great  attainmen  ;  not 
visibly  subject  to  second  thoughts,  or  to  the  devils  palsy  ot 
self-approbation  ;  flying  over  great  sheets  of  reason  wi  h  easy 
stretches  of  power  ;  contradicting  his  predecessors  point-blank, 
without  the  possibility  of  offending  their  houored  manes :  in 
these  and  other  respects  the  style  of  The  ^conon^yoce^ 
new  ground  of  excellence.     The  latter  portion  of   the  .vork 
particularly  '  On  the  Human  Soul,'  is  a  sustained  expression 
of  the  loftiest  order,  and  in  this  respect  won  the  comnieuda- 
tions  of  Coleridge,  who   was  no  bad  judge  of  style.       ^bce 
our  extract,  n.  C6.)      "  The  Animal  Kingdom,  however,  is 
riper  rounder,  and  more  free  than  even  the  last-mentioned 
work;    more  intimately  methodical,  and  at   the  same  time 
better  constructed.     The  treatises  on  the  organs,  themselves 
correspondently  organic,  are  like  stately  songs  of  science  dying 
into  poetry ;  it  is  surprising  how  so  didactic  a  mind  carved 
out  the  freedom  and  beauty  of  these  epic  chapters.     It  is  the 
same  with  The  Worship  and  Love  of  God,  the  ornament  in 
which  is  rich  and  flamboyant,  but  upborne  on  the  colonnades 
of  a  living  forest  of  doctrines.     We  observe  then,  upon  the 
whole,  this  peculiarity,  that  Swedenborg's   address  became 
more  intense  and  ornamental  from  the  beginnmg  to  the  end 
of  these  works ;  a  somewhat  rare  phenomenon  in  literature, 
for  the  imagination  commonly  burns  out  in  proportion  as  what 
is  termed  sober  reason  advances,  whereas  with  this  author  his 
imagination  was  kindled  at  the  torch  of  reason,  and  never 
flamed  forth  freely  untU  the  soberness  of  his  maturity  had  set 


76 


SWEDENBORGS   STYLE. 


it  on  fire  from  the  wonderful  love  that  couches  in  all  things." 
— lAfe  of  Swedenhorg,  pp.  65-66,  Americ.  edit. 

66.  "  It  is  well  known,  that  Coleridge  read  the  philosophi- 
cal works  of  Swedenborg  with  much  pleasure  and  admiration. 
His  notes  on  many  passages  in  the  (Economia  Regni  Animalis^ 
and  in  the  De  Cultu  et  Amore  Dei,  evidently  indicate  and 
prove  this  to  have  been  the  fact.  We  will  here  adduce  a  few 
of  his  notes  which  he  appears  to  have  penned  as  he  was  read- 
in"'  through  the  (Economia  Regni  Animalis.  On  the  nn.  208 
to  214  inclusive,  he  observes, — '  I  remember  nothing  in  Lord 
Bacon  superior,  few  passages  equal,  either  in  depth  of  thought, 
or  in  richness,  dignity,  and  felicity  of  diction,  or  in  the 
weightiness  of  the  truths  contained  in  these  articles.' — (S.  T. 
Coleridge,  May  27,  1827.) 

"  On  251,  he  observes,  that  it  is  'Excellent ;  so  indeed  are 
all  the  preceding  in  the  matter  meant  to  be  conveyed  ;  but 
this  paragraph  is  not  only  conceived  with  the  mind  of  a 
master,  but  it  is  expressed  adequately,  and  with  scientific  pre- 
cision.' " — Literary  Remains  of  Coleridge^  Vol.  IV.,  p.  424. 


V. 


SWEDENBORG'S    SCIENCE. 

67.     From  SandeVs  Eulogy  on  Swedenborg, 
"  The  scientific  works  of  Swedenborg  are  so  many  incontes- 
tible  proofs  of  a  universal  erudition,  which  attached  itself  in 
preference  to  objects  which  require  deep  reflection  and  pro- 
found  knowledge.    None  can  reproach  him  with  having  wished 
to  shine  in  borrowed  plumes,  passing  off  as  his  own  the  labors 
of  others,  dressed  out  in  a  new  form  and  decorated  with  some 
new  turns  of  expression.     It  must  be  acknowledged,  on  the 
contrary,  that  without  ever  taking  up  the  ideas  of  others,  he 
always  follows  his  own,  and  often  makes  remarks  and  appli- 
cations which  are  not  to  be  found  in  any  precedmg  author. 
Nor  was  he  at  all  of  the  same  class  as    the  generality  ot 
universal  geniuses,  who,  for  the  most  part,  are  content  with 
merely  skimming  over  the  surface  of  things.     He  apphed  the 
whole  force  of  his  mind  to  penetrate  into  the  most  hidden 
things,  to  connect  together  the  scattered  links  of  the  great 
chain  of  universal  being,  and  to  trace  up  everything  m  an 
order  agreeable  to  its  nature,  to  the  great  First  Cause.    Neither 
did  he  proceed  in  the  manner  of  certain  Natural  Philosophers 
and  Mathematicians,  who,  dazzled  by  the  light  whicli  they 
have  been  in  search  of,  and  have  found,  would,  were  it  pos- 
sible,  eclipse  and  extinguish,  to  the  eyes  of  the  world,  the  Only 
True  and  Great  Light.     He,  in  the  course  of  his  meditations 
on  the  universe,  and  on  creation,  continually  found  new  occa- 
sions  for  rising  in  love  and  adoration  towards  the  Author  of 

Nature ,      c      j    i. 

"  I  think  I  shall  not  be  mistaken  if  I  assert  that  Swedenborg, 
from  the  time  when  he  first  began  to  think  for  himself,  was 
animated  by  a  secret  fire,  and  ardent  desire  to  attam  to  the 

discovery  of  the  most  abstract  things 

7*  (77) 


78 


swedenborg's  science. 


"  He  contemplated  the  great  edifice  of  the  universe  in  gen- 
eral. He  afterwards  examined  such  of  its  parts  as  come 
within  the  limits  of  our  knowledge.  He  saw  that  the  whole 
is  arranged  in  a  uniform  order,  and  governed  by  certain  laws. 
He  took  particular  notice,  in  this  immense  machine,  of  every- 
thing that  can  be  explained  on  mathematical  principles.  He 
doubted  not  that  the  Supreme  Creator  bad  arranged  the  whole, 
even  to  the  most  complete  mutual  agreement :  and  this  agree- 
ment, as  a  mathematical  philosopher,  he  endeavored  to  develop, 
by  drawing  conclusions  from  the  smallest  parts  to  the  greatest, 
from  that  which  is  visible  before  our  eyes,  to  that  which  is 
scarcely  discoverable,  even  by  the  aid  of  optical  glasses.  He 
thus  formed  to  himself  a  system  founded  upon  a  certain  species 
of  mechanism,  and  supported  by  reasoning — a  system,  the  ar- 
rangement of  which  is  so  solid,  and  the  composition  so  serious, 
that  it  claims  and  merits  all  the  attention  of  the  learned :  as 
for  others,  they  may  do  better  not  to  meddle  with  it.  Accord- 
ing to  this  system,  he  explains  all  that  the  most  certain  facts 


and  the  soundest  reasoning  can  offer  to  our  meditations. 


» 


68,  Concerning  the  repute  in  which  Swedenborg's  scientific 
works  are  held  at  present  among  the  learned,  we  extract  the 
following  from  the  "  Southern  QuaHerly  Eeview"  vol.  x.  pp. 
314-15:  — 

"  These  works  are  in  the  very  highest  repute  among  learned 
men,  and  are  daily  increasing  in  reputation,  of  which  the  new 
translations,  and  costly  editions,  recently  issued  from  the  Lon- 
don press,  afford  evidence.  It  is  now  beginning  to  be  discov- 
ered and  acknowledged  how  much  even  the  present  enlightened 
age  is  indebted  to  the  herculean  labors  and  rare  discoveries  of 
this  transcendent  genius  —  a  concession  which  would  have 
been  sooner  made,  had  it  not  been  that  his  greatest  works 
were  composed  and  published  in  a  dead  or  foreign  tongue, 
unfamiliar  to  the  generality  of  readers  ;  besides  that,  his  claims 
as  an  illuminated  expounder  of  Divine  Revelation  have  thrown 
a  temporary  cloud  over  his  literary  reputation,  which  is  now 
being  dissipated  by  the  force  of  truth ;  and  we  may  add,  that 
the  great  body  of  scholars  of  the  present  century  have  been 
too  much  occupied  with  modern  works  of  value,  to  pay  that 


swedenborg's  science. 


79 


attention  to  the  labors  of  their  illustrious  predecessors,  which 
their  merits  challenge  at  their  hands.  A  period  of  literary 
repose  of  long  continuance,  and  freedom  from  the  distraction  of 
wars  and  political  convulsions,  has,  however,  latterly  furnished 
them  with  leisure  for  more  thorough  investigations,  and  enabled 
them  to  be  more  just  to  the  claims  of  illustrious  persons  who 
have  passed  off  the  stage." 

69.     From  the  Christian  Examiner,  July,  1843. 

"  We  shall  now  endeavor  to  take  a  brief  review  of  Sweden- 
borg's scientific  progress,  with  particular  reference  to  method, 
principles,  and  doctrines.  His  proper  career  may  be  dated 
from  the  publication  of  the  '  Prodromus  Principiorum '  (Prin- 
ciples of  Chemistry) .  In  this  work  he  attempted  to  account 
for  chemical  combination,  by  a  theory  of  the  forms  and  forces 
of  the  particles  of  bodies  ;  and  to  resolve  chemistry  into  natural 
geometry,  that  it  might  have  the  benefit  of  first  principles,  and 
the  rank  of  a  fixed  science.  Of  these  forms  he  gave  many 
delineations 

"  The  rules  which  he  proposed  for  investigating  the  consti- 
tution of  the  magnetic,  luminous,  and  atmospheric  elements, 
come  next  under  our  notice.  1.  That  we  take  for  granted 
that  nature  acts  by  the  simplest  means,  and  that  the  particles 
of  elements  are  of  the  simplest  and   least   artificial   forms. 

2.  That  the  beginning  of  nature  is  the  same  as  the  beginning  of 
geometry ;  that  natural  particles  arise  from  mathematical  points, 
precisely  as  lines,  forms,  and  the  whole  of  geometry ;  and  this 
because   everything  in  nature  is  geometric ;  and  vice  versi, 

3.  That  all  the  above  elements  are  capable  of  simultaneous 
motion,  in  one  and  the  same  place  ;  and  that  each  moves  natu- 
rally without  hindrance  from  the  others.  4.  That  ascertained 
facts  be  the  substratum  of  theory,  and  that  no  step  be  taken 
without  their  guidance. 

''  From  these  rules  we  pass  to  their  application,  in  the  out- 
set, to  which  Swedenborg  boldly  averred  that  the  records  of 
science,  accumulated  as  they  had  been  for  thousands  of  years, 
were  suflScient  for  an  examination  of  things  on  principles,  and 
a  priori  ;  that  a  knowledge  of  natural  philosophy  does  not  pre- 
suppose the  knowledge  of  innumerable  phenomena,  but  only 


80 


SWEDENBORG  S   SCIENCE. 


of  principal  facts  which  proceed  directly,  and  not  of  those 
which  result  obliquely  and  remotely,  from  the  world's  mechan- 
ism and  powers ;  and  that  the  latter  species  of  facts  confuse 
and  disturb,  rather  than  inform  the  mind.  Also,  that  the  rest- 
less desire  from  age  to  age  for  more  facts,  is  characteristic  of 
those  who  are  unable  to  reason  from  principles  to  causes,  and 
that  no  abundance  would  ever  be  sufficient  for  such  persons." 
We  shall  pass  over  the  reviewer's  statement  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  elemental  world  as  proposed  in  the  "  Principia." 

"  In  approaching  the  human  body,  Swedenborg  again  in- 
sisted on  the  necessity  for  principles  and  generalization,  with- 
out which,  he  said,  '  facts  themselves  would  grow  obsolete  and 
perish;'  adding  that  'unless  we  were  much  mistaken,  the 
destinies  of  the  world  were  leading  to  this  issue.'  A  knowl- 
edge of  the  soul  became  the  professed  object  of  his  inquiry, 
and  he  entered  the  circus  with  a  resolve  to  examine  thoroughly 
the  world,  or  microcosm,  which  the  soul  inhabits,  in  the 
assurance  that  she  should  be  sought  for  nowhere  but  in  her 
own  kingdom.  In  this  search  he  repudiated  synthesis,  and 
resolved  to  approach  the  soul  by  the  analytic  way,  adding,  that 
he  believed  himself  to  be  the  first  investigator  who  had  ever 
commenced  with  this  intention  ;  a  surmise  in  which  he  is 
probably  correct.  We  shall  here  content  ourselves  with  a 
brief  illustration  of  one  of  these  doctrines  which,  with  the  most 
intense  study,  he  elaborated  for  his  guidance  ;  we  mean  the 
'  doctrine  of  series  and  degrees.'  Each  organ,  he  observed, 
commences  from  certain  unities  or  least  parts  which  are  pecu- 
liar to  it,  and  derives  its  form  from  their  gradual  composition, 
and  its  general  function  from  the  sum  of  their  particular  func- 
tions. The  mass  is  therefore  the  representative  of  its  minute 
components,  and  its  structure  and  functions  indicate  theirs. 
The  vesicles,  or  smallest  parts  peculiar  to  the  lungs,  are  so 
many  least  lungs  ;  the  biliary  radicles  of  the  liver,  so  many 
least  livers  ;  the  cellules  of  the  spleen,  so  many  least  spleens  ; 
the  tubuli  of  the  kidneys,  so  many  least  kidneys  ;  and  the  same 
function  is  predicable  of  these  leasts,  as  of  their  entire  respec- 
tive organs,  but  with  any  modification  which  experience  may 
declare  to  be  proper  to  the  minuter  structures.  This  new 
method  of  analysis,  in  which  the  greatest  things  were  presumed 


swedenborg's  science. 


81 


to  indicate  the  least,  with  just  such  reservation  as  our  experi- 
ence of  the  least  necessitates,  was  designed  to  throw  light  on 
the  intimate  structure  and  occult  offices  of  single  organs, — the 
same  way  it  identified  the  higher  with  the  lower  groups  of 
organs, — the  cranial  with  the  thoracic,  and  both  with  the 
abdominal  viscera.  Whatever  is  manifested  in  the  body  is 
transferable  to  the  brain,  as  the  source  of  all  functions  and 
structures.  If  the  abdominal  organs  supply  the  blood  with  a 
terrestrial  nourishment,  the  thoracic  supply  it  with  an  as  rial, 
and  the  brain  with  an  ethereal  food.  If  the  first  mentioned 
organs,  by  the  urinary  and  intestinal  passages,  eliminate  excre- 
ments and  impurities,  so  the  lungs  by  the  trachea,  and  the 
brain  through  the  sinuses,  reject  a  subtler  defilement.  If  the 
heart  and  blood-vessels  are  channels  of  a  corporeal  circula- 
tion, the  brain  and  nerves,  or  spirit-vessels,  are  channels  of  a 
transcendent  or  spirituous  circulation.  If  the  contractility 
of  the  arteries  and  of  muscular  structures  depends  on  the  ner- 
vous system,  it  is  because  that  system  is  itself  eminently  con- 
tractile, and  impels  forward  its  contents  in  the  most  perfect 
manner.  If  the  lungs  have  a  respiration  rising  and  falling, 
and  the  heart  a  contraction  and  expansion,  so  the  brain  has  an 
animatory  movement,  which  embraces  both  the  motions  of  the 
lower  series.  Thus  every  function  is  first  to  be  traced  to  its 
essential  form  in  the  bosom  of  its  own  organ,  and  thence, 
tlirough  an  ascending  scale  to  the  brain,  '  which  is  eminently 
muscle,  and  eminently  gland ;  in  a  word,  which  is  eminently 
the  microcosm,  when  the  body  is  regarded  as  a  microcosm.' " 
70.  The  reviewer  closes  with  the  following  words  of  the 
"  Penny  Cyclopedia  " :  "  On  the  whole,  we  may  admit  these 
works  to  be  a  grand  consolidation  of  human  knowledge ;  an 
attempt  to  combine  and  reorganize  the  opinions  of  all  the 
scliools  of  medicine  since  the  days  of  Hippocrates.  The  doc- 
trines of  the  fluidists,  of  the  mechanical  and  chemical  physic- 
ians, and  of  the  vitalists,  and  solidists,  as  well  as  the  methods 
of  the  dogmatics  and  empirics,  and  even  the  miscellaneous 
novelties  of  the  present  day,  have  each  a  proportion  and  a 
place  in  the  catholic  system  of  Swedenborg.  His  works,  how- 
ever, are  a  dead  letter  to  the  medical  profession,  or  known 


82 


swedenborg's  science. 


only  to  its  erudite  members  through  the  ignorant  misstate- 
ments of  Haller." 

71.    From  the  Monthly  Magazine^  1841. 
"  In  his  anti-theological  career,  the  course  of  Swedenborg 
was  a  scientific  one  ;  and  it  has  in  it  the  unparalleled  wonder 
of  a  man  devoting  himself  undeviatingly  for  twenty-five  years, 
to  natural  facts,  and  yet  always  having  in  view,  and  as  an 
end,  the  highest  objects.     No  writer  ever  kept  more  closely  to 
the  matter  In  hand  of  his  several  treatises  (and  these  embrace 
nearly  the  circle  of  luiman  knowledge),  with  a  purpose  which 
altogether  transcended  each  present  effort.     There  is,  in  fact, 
no  discursiveness,  no  anticipation  of  the  next  step  in  the  pro- 
cess, but  a  steady  and  legitimate  evolution.     This  gives  to  his 
works  the  character  of  a  great  series,  and  makes  them  at  any 
rate  powerfully  persuasive ;  at  the  same  time  that  the  real  end 
he  had  in  view,  the  knowledge  of  spiritual  things,  forces  him 
to  the  ultimate,  to  the  very  liighest,  physical  deductions  in 
each  particular  case.     Nothing  can  be  more  opposed  than  this 
to  the  spirit  of  modern  science,  dwelling,  as  it  ever  does,  in 
proximate  inductions,  and  treating  its  own  first  principles  as 
absurd  and  visionary.     We  read,  the  other  day,  of  a  medical 
author  Avho  declared  that  he  would  sooner  learn  a  new  way  of 
making  a  poultice,  than  enter  on  a  physiological  theory ;  a  dictum 
which  is  a  very  correct  exponent  of  the  present  reach  of  the 
scientific  spirit  —  but  Swedenborg  had  other  ideas  of  science. 

*'  Swedenborg's  aim  iu  his  Avork  on  the  Principles  of  Chem- 
istry, was  to  arrive  at  the  ultimate  law  of  chemical  combina- 
tions, which  he  saw  intuitively  could  be  no  other  than  a  definite 
form  and  correspondent  force  in  the  atoms  of  combining  bodies. 
This  form,  he  asserts,  is  pointed  at  (indigitari)  by  every  pro- 
perty of  material  masses  ;  that,  for  instance,  all  the  chemical 
effects  of  a  quantity  of  acid  on  a  quantity  of  metal,  are  but 
the  aggregate  of  myriads  of  mechanical  and  geometrical  rela- 
tions°between  the  ultimate  particles  of  these  two  substances ; 
and  that  it  is  the  business  of  the  scientific  man,  in  the  gross 
result,  to  read  the  special  cause, — in  the  relations  and  qualities 
of  the  whole, — to  discern  the  casual  form  and  force  of  the  atom. 
If  his  method,  in  this  work,  be  induction,  the  process,  at  any 


SWEDENBORG  S   SCIENCE. 


83 


rate,  is  not  given.  He  has  delineated,  as  it  would  seem, 
intuitively,  the  shapes  of  the  particles  of  numbers  of  substances, 
testino'  his  positions  a  posUriori  by  known  facts  of  the  union 
of  bodies,  which  bear  him  out,  it  must  be  confessed,  in  a  won- 
derful manner.  His  general  doctrine  seems  to  be,  that  solids 
have  been  originally  generated  in  the  interstices  of  fluids,  and 
have,  therefore,  the  shapes  of  those  interstices ;  the  fracture 
and  combination  of  these  shapes,  giving  rise  to  all  the  varieties 
of  inert  substances.  There  is  the  clearest  anticipation  by 
Swedenborg,  in  this  work,  of  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  atomic 
theory ;  nay,  he  has  even  laid  down,  geometrically,  the  com- 
posite nature  of  water,  and  stated  the  chemical  equivalents  of 
its  components  at  the  admitted  values  of  8  and  1,  always  call- 
ing water  9.  By  the  result  of  this  inquiry,  he  seeks  to  marry 
the  merely  experimental  sciences  to  the  fixed,  and  to  elevate 
them  on  the  wings  of  geometry.  Let  us  admit,  that  even 
every  deduction  which  has  been  elicited  by  him  be  false, 
this  spirit  is  a  valuable  one  to  work  in. 

"But  Swedenborg,  following  his  chief  doctrine,  that  the 
greatest  things  instruct  us  of  the  least,  —  the  largest  visible 
of  the  smallest  invisible,  next  proceeds  to  a  theory  of  the  for-, 
mation  of  the  universe.  We  cannot  trust  ourselves  to  launch 
into  the  ocean  of  his  '  Principia,*  but  must  be  content  with  a 
brief,  and  not  very  satisfactory  or  intelligible  analysis  of  it,  in 
the  German  ^Real-Encyclopedia;*  (vol.  10.  Leipz.  1839,) 
which,  liowever,  so  far  as  we  know,  is  the  only  one  before  the 
public. 

This  analysis,  as  being  wholly  inadequate,  we  shall  here 
omit. 

"  We  find  Swedenborg,  after  having  gauged  the  height  and 
depth  of  physics  ;  after  having  carried  the  physical  facts  of  his 
day,  to  the  last  possible  deductions,  turning  his  attention  to 
the  human  microcosm.  He  mastered  the  whole  of  the  ana- 
tomical materials  necessary  for  his  purposes ;  and  now  pro- 
ceeded to  construct  a  grand  system  of  physiology.  Here  we 
see  the  same  unity  and  precision,  as  in  in  his  previous  works, 
and  the  same  serial  character  and  relation  in  his  proceedings ; 
his  physical  man  is  an  exactly  fitted  inhabitant  of  his  finite 
universe  ;  organ  is  adapted  to  object,  and  object  to  organ  ;  and 


84 


swedenborg's  science. 


SWEDENBORG*S   SCIENCE. 


85 


the  world  within  and  the  world  without  are  in  kindly  and 
indispensable  relation.     In  his  (Economia  Begm  Ammahs  he 
gives  his  analysis  of  the  blood-globule-a  mechanical    and 
geometrical  analysis -building  upon  it,  as  a  basis,  the  struc- 
tures and  functions  of  all  the  sanguineous  organs.     Beginning 
from  a  knowledge  of  the  blood,  he  holds  in  his  hand  the  end 
and  principle  of  all  the  flibrics  which  generate    that   fluid ; 
seein-  their  uses  from  an  almost  prophetic  point  of  vision. 
Here°he  also   commences   to  treat  of  the    Motions  of  the 
human  body;  a  subject  of  whicli,  indeed,  he  may  be  consid- 
ered the  discoverer.     He  demonstrates  tliat  the  brain  has  a 
respiratory  motion,  a  rising  and  falling,  synchronous  with  the 
inspirations  and  expirations  of  the  lungs,  by  means  of  which 
fallin-,  the  nervous  fluid,  {flaidum  spirituosum,)  is  propelled 
all  ov^er  the  system,  while  the  expansion  of  the  brain  draws 
the  same  fluid  from  the  blood  (of  which  it  is  the  life)  through 
the   capillaries  of  the   carotids,  into  the  cortical  substances 
(corcula   cerehri),  and   so  back  into   the  nervous  circulation 
het  the  hrain  in  motion^  says  he  significantly,  '  and  you  will 
see  the  uses  of  all  its  parts:    This  motion  generates  the  motions 
of  the  lun-s,  which  react  upon  those  of  the  brain,  and  serve 
as  a  subsidiary  and  external  attractive  cause  of  the  circulation 
of  the  nervous  fluid,  of  Avhich  the  motions  of  the  brain  serve 
as  the  internal  cause.     Nor  is  respiration  confined  to  the  lungs, 
but  by  their  means,  as  well  as  by  the  brain,  is  introduced  mto 
all  the  viscera ;  the  whole  being  in  a  state  of  alternate  swell 
and  subsidence;  which  constitutes  their  life  and  activity   and 
excites  them  perpetually  into  the  performance  of  their  func- 
tions     Thus,   with   Swedenborg,   definite   structure  has  defi- 
nite function ;  and  definite  function  is  none  other  than  definite 
motion—'  Qualis  determinatio  suhstantiarum,  talis  accidentium 
et  motuum,  qui  suhstantias,  sicut  stratos  ponticulos  percurrunL 
(As  is  the  determination  of  substances,  so  is  that  of  the  acci- 
dents  and  the  motions   which   run    through   the    substances, 
like  little  paved  bridges.)     Every  fibre  has  its  own  fluxion, 

"  In  fact  the  human  body,  in  its  inmost  recesses,  in  those 
manifold  functions,  which  are  ordinarily  called  vital,  is  but  the 
realization  of  a  transcendental  geometry.  All  its  operations 
take  place  in  obedience  to  high  mathematical  laws,  which  rule 


in  its  stupendous  forms.  If  the  circle  and  triangle  have 
certain  properties,  on  which  the  powers  of  mechanical  instru- 
ments in  these  forms  are  dependent,  so  the  spirals  and  ever- 
lastin-  vortices  of  the  brain,  the  vessels,  the  intestines,  have 
also  inalienable  properties  of  their  own,  in  which  the  corporeal 
organization  lives,  moves,  and  has  its  being.  This  leads  us 
to°say  a  few  words  of  Swedenborg's  Doctrine  of  Forms  :  — 
a  doctrine  of  the  principles  by  which  Nature  ascends  from 
the  mineral  to  the  body  of  man."    .... 

This  doctrine  we  prefer  to  state  in  Swedenborg's  own  words, 
as  contained  in  ''  The  Worship  and  Love  of  God,"  2d  Americ. 

edit.  pp.  17,  and  18: 

"  The  lowest  form,  or  the  form  proper  to  earthly  substances, 
is  that  which  is  determined  by  mere  angular,  and  at  the  same 
time  by  plane  subjects,  whatsoever  be  their  figure,  provided 
they  flow  together  into  a  certain  form ;  this,  therefore,  is  to 
be  called  an^ANGULAR  Form,  the  proper  object  of  our  geom- 
etry.    From  this  form  we  are  enabled  to  contemplate  the  next 
superior  form,  or  the  form  perpetually  angular,  which  is  the 
same  as  the  Circular  or  Spherical  Form  ;  for  this  latter  is 
more  perfect  than  the  other  in  this  respect,  that  its  circum- 
ference is,  as  it  were,  a  perpetual  plane,  or  infinite  angle,  be- 
cause totally  void  of  planes  and  angles ;  on  which  account 
also  it  is  the  measure  of  all  angular  forms,  for  we  measure 
angles  and  planes  by  sections  and  sines  of  a  circle ;  from  these 
considerations  we  see,  that  into  tliis  hitter  form  something  in- 
finite or  perpetual  has  insinuated  itself,  which  does  not  exist  in 
the  former,  viz.,  the  circular  orb,  whose  end  and  beginning 
cannot  be  marked.     In  the  circular  or  spherical  form,  again, 
we  are  enabled  to  contemplate  a  certain  superior  form,  which 
may  be  called  the  perpetual  circular,  or  simply  the  Spiral 
Form  ;  for  to  this  form  is  added,  still  further,  somewhat  per- 
petual' or  infinite,  Avhich  is  not  in  the  former,  viz.,  that  its 
diameters  are  not  bounded  or  terminate  in  a  certain  circum- 
ference of  a  circle  or  superficies  of  a  sphere,  which  serves  it 
instead  of  a  centre,  and  that  its  diameters  are  bent  into  a 
species  of  a  certain  curve,  by  which  means  this  form  is  the 
measure  of  a  circular  form  or  forms,  as  the  circular  is  the 
measure  of  the  angular.     In  this  spiral  form  we  are  enabled 

8 


86 


swedenborg's  science. 


to  view  a  still  superior  kind  of  form,  which  may  be  called  the 
perpetually  spiral  or  Vortical  Form,  in  which  again  some- 
what perpetual  or  infinite  is  found  which  was  not  in  the 
former :  for  the  former  had  reference  to  a  circle  as  to  a  kind 
of  infinite  centre,  and  from  this,  by  its  diameters,  to  a  fixed 
centre  as  to  its  limit  or  boundary  ;  but  the  latter  has  reference 
to  a  spiral  form  as  a  centre,  by  lines  perpetually  circular ;  this 
form  manifests  itself  especially  in  magnetics,  and  is  the  meas- 
ure of  the  spiral  form  for  the  reason  above  mentioned  concern- 
ing inferior  forms.  In  this,  lastly,  may  be  viewed  the  highest 
form  of  nature,  or  the  perpetually  vortical  form,  whicli  is  the 
same  with  the  Celestial  Form,  in  which  almost  all  boundaries 
are,  as  it  were,  erased,  as  so  many  imperfections,  and  still 
more  perpetuities  or  infinities  are  put  on  ;  wherefore  this  form 
is  the  measure  of  the  vortical  form,  consequently  the  exem- 
plar or  idea  of  all  inferior  forms,  from  which  the  inferior  de- 
scend and  derive  birth  as  from  their  beginning,  or  from  the 
form  of  forms." 

Thus  far  Swedenborg.  We  continue  in  the  words  of  the 
editor  of  the  "  Monthly  Magazine :  " 

"  This  scale  of  forms,  with  the  motions  which  ascend  and 
descend  through  them,  '  like  so  many  little  paved  bridges,' 
everlastingly  is  the  one  grand  law  of  nature  ;  all  organization 
deriving  its  perfection  from  being  constituted  in  the  higher 
forms  and  motions ;  all  body,  taking  its  properties  from  the 
lower.  Thus  Swedenborg  makes  Geometry  co-extensive,  per- 
haps synonymous,  with  nature.  His  physiology  is  indeed  the 
Euclid  of  the  human  body,  which  he  would  persuade  us  is  not 
an  occult  and  alchemistic  thing,  but  supremely  mechanical,  — 
a  law  and  shape  infinitely  distinct  and  perfect. 

"  Another  remarkable  position  is  his  Doctrine  of  Series. 
All  substances,  including  organized  substances,  are  composed 
of  least  parts  exactly  similar  to  themselves  in  all  their  prop- 
erties, with  only  the  reservation,  that  the  least  things  are  much 
more  perfect,  and  more  potent  in  their  sphere  than  the  greatest. 
The  activities  of  masses  are  but  general  and  gross  results, 
presenting  an  image  and  shadow  of  the  interior  activities  of 
their  compound  unities.  These  unities  must  not,  however,  be 
confounded  with  particles,  supposed  to  be  infinitely  small,  since 


swedenborg's  science. 


87 


.    X     .  PT.tirelv  ne-lects  the  idea  of  infinite  divisibility, 
Swedenborg  enti^V^^^^^^^^  On  the  contrary,  they  stand 

T  T'    LZ.M  are  least  in  any  series,  and  enter  the 

f       TtS^Sristii.  essential  parts,  and  which  are  pecu- 
form  of  that  senes  as  ^^^^^  ^^^^^^^ 

;T  '^:Z^:^^       vesicle  is  the  unity  of  the 
to  It.     To  exemp    y,         F  ^^^  ^.^.^re  then-  activ- 

lungs,  from  which  the  iun  s  ^^^  ^^^^^^  ^^ 

capillaries  and  nerves,   ^/^  ^n-ound-work  of  the  entire 

^^^^^i::::;:;^  ^^^^      ^he  mngs,  constitu^ng, 

body.     ihe\esicie  lut:  produces  from 

Itself,  all  the  powers  ^^^^^  ^^^^^,g . 

gate.     I"*h;f"::ry  tS  eyrieasrUidneys;  each 
the  spleen  of  least  spleens     t  e  K        y  _^  ^^^^^ 

part  of  least  exemplars  of  itselt. 

Lilar  to  itself.'     F-^.;^-'^,  ^^/^   I'.eSo  theVgans 
progression  and  composmou J     t  -     -Ue         ^^^^^^^^^   ^^^^ 

'-''  1  Z  :::  r  1  tlton  o^jeet,  the  understanding 

'Tnw  this  do  tie,  is  entitled  to  prcdiea.e  in  transcendental 
guided  by  this  doctrine,  ^^^  ^^^  ^^jj,,,^ 

pcrfeetion  of  those  par  s  ofmir  frame  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^^^^^ 

to  become  objects  at  all.     Wha   a  key  i  ^^^. 

•     •  ■v.^^  1     Thp  terminus  of  sight  is  tue  De^iuum^ 
.nvisible      The  term  o^  ^^^.^.^^  of  structures,  it  will 

standing!    Jhe  doc  .^  ^  ^^^,^,„  ^^^ 

be  perceived,  info''"'=<^^  .  ,  j^  analytical  results  which 
form  into  the  living  Ix^^y  '  ^"Y"°  ^"  f  ^^.^  „i„ut  Meed 
Swedenborg  has  procured  thereby,  aie,  as  we  m.„ 

expect,  amazing.  ,  „+    nnrl  rertainlv  the  most 

its  own  series,  from  least  to  „ 

greatest  to  least,  but  are  S'^^^''^'^.^^"*  f  .^J^^^oeeeds  from 


88 


S\VEDENBORG*S   SCIENCE. 


(perhaps  the  same  difficulty)  as  the  connection  between  nature 
and  spirit.  In  order,  therefore,  to  leap  from  one  series  to 
another,  some  new  guidance  was  necessary ;  and  this  he  found 
in  the  Doctrine  of  Degrees.  The  brain,  says  he,  is  All  in  a 
super-eminent  sense — it  is  the  essential  gland — the  essential 
muscle  —  the  essential  lungs — the  essential  heart.  In  this 
point  of  view,  the  body  is  the  mere  weaving  and  tissue  of  its 
brain  ;  each  organ  is  but  a  lapse  from  its  supreme  form.  The 
brain  presents  all  other  structures  in  the  highest  degree  ;  as 
tlie  spirituous  fluid  which  it  circulates,  presents  all  other 
fluids.  The  nervous  fibre  in  the  body  is  the  brain  again  in  a 
lower  form,  and  the  muscular  fibre  in  a  lower  still ;  or  vice 
versa^  as  we  stated  before,  the  brain  is  the  essential  muscle ; 
acting  or  contracting  spontaneously,  as  muscle  acts  by  delega- 
tion from  the  activity  of  the  brain.  In  this  manner  the 
understanding  is  to  trace  the  influx  from  superior  into  inferior 
forms  and  their  connections — but  not  by  the  mere  analysis  of 
the  inferior  per  se — inasmuch  as,  in  the  very  generation  of  the 
latter,  the  higher  has  put  off  the  properties  by  which  we  would 
recognize  its  presence.  In  fine,  this  doctrine  would  seem  to 
import,  that  in  touching  the  lower,  we  touch  another /orwi  of 
the  higher,  (in  which,  however,  that  higher  has  been  rendered 
latent,)  and  that  thus,  to  the  understanding,  the  T^exws  between, 
or  rather,  perhaps,  the  identity  of  the  two  stands  revealed. 
Of  course  the  Doctrine  of  Degrees  being  rendered  necessary 
by  the  imperfection  of  the  eye,  does  not  contemplate  making 
the  ultimate  connection  between  a  posterior  organ  and  its  causal 
nerve,  a  fact  visible  for  the  senses.  These  degrees,  by  which 
Nature  ascends  and  descends,  are  of  two  kinds,  the  one  con- 
tinuous^ comprising  the  mere  difference  of  larger  and  smaller, 
grosser  and  finer ;  the  other  distinct,  (or,  in  the  technical  lan- 
guage of  Swedenborg,  discrete,)  comprehending  the  differences 
between  prior  and  posterior,  universal  and  less  universal, 
essential  and  formal. 

"  We  have  now  hastily  traversed  some  of  Swedenborg's 
principles;  but  we  should  be  likely  to  mislead,  did  Ave  not  say 
a  few  words  respecting  his  power  of  reading/ads  and  treating 
details.  With  too  many  speculatists,  all  particular  facts  lose 
their  individuality  under  the  glare  of  some  eclipsing  theory. 


swedenborg's  science. 


89 


This  was  not  the  case  with  Swedenborg.     On  he  went,  m 
patient  analysis,  through  structure  after  structure,  and  organ 
upon  onran,  treating  their  smallest  points  with  all  the  rcAxrence 
of  the  mere  anatomist.     He  chiefly  took  his  data  from  the  best 
authors  of  his  time,  superadding,  however,  actual  dissections 
and  occasional  experiments  of  his  own.     Time  has  proved  that 
he  had  a  happy  faculty  of  selecting  only  the  sterling  materials 
from  these  authorities  ;  and  accordingly  his  deductions  have 
been  in  no  degree  perilled,  but  rather  confirmed  by  the  boasted 
^  march  of  science.'     It  may  be  further  observed,  that  Sweden- 
bor-'s  highest  abstractions  are  ever  allied  to  practical  facts; 
thaUiis  doctrines  occur  as  continual  inferences  from  his  details, 
and  are  not  presented  in  a  strictly  consecutive  order. 

u  Here   Swedenborg  ceases   for  us  a  professedly  scientific 
man,  his  next  phases  exhibiting  him  in  the  transition  from 
natural  things  to  spiritual.     This  we  see  in  his  '  The  WcrsUp 
and  Love  of  God;  which  contains  only  the  essence  and  elixir 
of  his  physical  doctrines,  sublimated  into  an  analytic  intellectual 
philosophy  from  which  there  was  a  direct  highway  to  theology. 
The  fir«t  part  of  ii  describes  in  gorgeous  pomp  of  Latin,  the 
creation  of  the  planets  from  the  Solar  fire,  and  their  procession 
in  spiral  gyrations  from  their  parent,  until  they  reached  their 
present  orbits.     Then  comes  the  birth  of  the  first  paradisal 
vegetable  kingdom  from  the  mineral  kingdom    and,  m  like 
minner,  and  in  succession,  of  the  first  animal  from  the  first 
vegetable  kingdom;  and  last  of  all,  from  the  centre  of  the 
P^adisus  in  Paradiso  ;  the  inmost  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  or 
Arbor  Vitce,  the  production  of  the  ovum  of  the  First   Man. 
We  shall  not  now  touch  on  the  mental  half  of  this  work,  the 
'delitium  et  coronis^  of  Swedenborg's  science,  but  conclude  a 
branch  of  our  subject  by  extracting,  as  an  average  specimen 
of  his  Latinity  at  this  time,   a  magnificent  passage  on  the 
inspiration  of  life  into  the  corporeal  initiament  of  the  l^irst 

Be'jfotten.     ...  «         ,     i    i. 

Then  follows  a  lengthy  extract  in  Latin  from  the  last  men- 
tioned  work  of  Swedenborg.  This  carefully  written  article  is 
signed  by  the  editor  of  the  "  Monthly  Magazine,     J.   A. 

Heraud. 

8* 


V 


90 


swedenbokg's  science. 


72  On  account  of  the  importance  of  Swedcnborg's  scien- 
tific doctrines  for  the  proper  understanding  of  his  works  we 
insert  liere  Dr.  Wilkinson's  entire  exposition  of  these  doc- 
trines from  his  "  Introduction  to  the  Animal  Kmgdom  "  :— 

"  It  is  impossible  to  understand  either  the  Word  or  the 
works  of  God  without  doctrines,  which  in  both  cases  require 
to  be  formed  by  '  one  who  is  enlightened.'  *     The  doctrines 
made  use  of  by  Swedenborg  in  the  '  Animal  Kingdom,  are 
the  Doctrines  of  Forms,  of  Order  and  Degrees,  of  Series  and 
Society,  of  Influx,  of  Correspondence  and  Representation,  and 
of  Modification.     These  doctrines  themselves  are  truths  arrived 
at  by  analysis,  proceeding  on  the  basis  of  general  experience; 
in  short,  they  are  so  many  formulas  resulting  from  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  sciences.     They  are  perpetually  illustrated  and  eluci- 
dated throughout  the  '  Animal  Kingdom,'  but  never  stated  by 
Swedenborg  in  the  form  of  pure  science,  perhaps  because  it 
would  have  been  contrary  to  the  analytic  method  to  have  so 
stated  them,  before  the  reader  had  been  carried  up  through 
the  legitimate  stages,  beginning  from  experience,  or  the  lowest 
sphere.     Each  effect  is  put  through  all  these  doctrines,  in  order 
tliat  it  may  disclose  the  causes  that  enter  it  in  succession,  that 
it  may  refer  itself  to  its  roots  and  be  raised  to  its  powers,  and 
be  seen  in  connection,  contiguity,  continuity,  and  analogy  with 
all  other  things  in  the  same  universe,  t     They  may  be  com- 
pared to  so  many  special  organs,  which  analyze  things  appar- 
ently  homogeneous    into   a  number   of   distinct    constituent 
principles,  and  distribute  each  for  use  as  the  whole  requires. 
To  deny  any  of  these  doctrines,  or  to  give  them  up  in  the 
presence  of  facts  that  do  not  range  upon  them  at  first  sight,  is 
to  nullify  the  human  mind  as  the  interpreter  of  nature. 

"  The  Doctrine  of  Forms  teaches  that  '  the  forms  of  all 
things,  like  their  essences  and  substances,  ascend  in  order 
and  by  degrees  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest.  The  lowest 
form  is  the  angular,  or,  as  it  is  also  called,  the  terrestrial 
and   corporeal.     The   second  and   next  higher  form  is  the 


*  Arcana  Ccelestia,  n.  10589. 

t  By  a  universe,  Swedenborg  appears  to  mean  any  complete  series 

as  referable  to  its  unities. 


swedenbokg's  science. 


91 


circular,  which  is  also  called  the  perpetual-angular,  because 
the  circumference  of  the  circle   involves  neither  angle  nor 
rectilinear  plane,  being   a  perpetual  angle   and  a  perpetual 
plane ;  this  form  is  at  once  the  parent  and  measure  of  angular 
forms.     The  form  above  this  is  the  spiral,  which  is  the  parent 
and  measure  of  circular  forms,  as  the  circular,  of  angular 
forms.     Its  radii  or  diameters  are  not  rectilinear,  nor  do  they 
conver.-e  to  a  fixed  centre  like  those  of  a  circle ;  but  they  are 
variously  circular,  and  have  a  spherical  surface  for  a  centre ; 
wherefore  the   spiral   is   also   called   the  perpetual  circular. 
This  form  never  exists  or  subsists  without  poles,  an  axis,  loci, 
a  greatest  circle,  and  lesser  circles,  its  diameters  ;  and  as  it 
a-fain  assumes  a  perpetuity  which  is  wanting  in  the  circular 
f;rm,   namely,   in   respect  of  diameters   and   centres,   so   it 
breathes   a  natural  spontaneousness   in   motion.     There  are 
still  higher  forms,  as  the  perpetual-spiral,  properly  the  vortical 
the  perpetual-vortical,  properly  the  celestial;*  and  a  highest, 
the  perpetual-celestial,  which  is  spiritual,  and  in  which  there 
is  nothing  but  what  is  everlasting  and  infinite.'     There  is  then 
a  scale   of  forms,  whereof   the  higher   are   relatively  more 
universal,  more  perfect,  and   more   potent  than  the  lower. 
The  lower  again  involve  the  higher  and  the  highest,  and  are 
generated  by  them :  so  that  where  there  is  an  angular  body, 
there  is  a  circular  form  and  force  intimately  present  as  its 
..round  ;  where  there  is  a  circle,  it  is  the  limit  of  an  interior 
spiral ;    and  so  forth.     For  nature  operates  from   the  very 
principles  of  geometry  and  mechanics,  and  converts  them  all 
[o  actuality  and  use.     The  purer  substances  m  creation  gyrate 
through  the  higher  forms  ;  the  less  pure  circulate  through  the 
lower%r  are  fixed  in  the  lowest.     All  the  essentials  of  the 
angular  form  are  opposed  to  each  other,  whence  the  origin  of 
gravitating  and  inert  matter,  intrinsically  unfitted  for  motion. 
But  the  other  forms,  according  to  their  eminence,  are  more 
and  more  accommodated  to  motion  and  variation. 


.  «  Swedenborg  here  uses  the  term  celestial,  not  in  the  sense  which 
is  pecuu:r  to  it  in  bis  theological  writings,  but  more  with  tlie  mcanmg 
attaciied  to  it  in  the  phrase  •  celestial  globe,'  as  pertaimng  to  tlie  form 
of  the  universe." 


92 


swedenborg's  science. 


i>     > 


</ 


"  The  Doctrine  of  Order  teaches  that  those  things  which 
are  superior  in  situation,  are  also  superior  in  forces,  in  pow.r, 
in  dignity  of  office,  aud  in  use ;  and  that  a  similar  law  deter- 
mines the  situation  of  the  parts  of  things,  and  of  the  parts  of 
parts.  Corresponding  to  the  highest  or  first  of  the  series 
of  subordination,  is  the  central  or  innermost  of  the  series  of 

co-ordination. 

»  The  Doctrine  of  Degrees  teaches  the  distinct  progressions 
through  which  nature  passes  wlien  one  thing  is  subordinated 
to     and   co-ordinated  with   another.     There   are    three   dis- 
criminated degrees  in  all  tilings,  both  natural  and  spiritual, 
corresponding  to  end,  cause  and  effect.     In  the  human  body 
there  is  a  sphere  of  ends,  a  sphere  of  causes,  aud  a  sphere  of 
effects.     The  body  itself,  comprehending  the  viscera  of  tlie 
abdomen  and  chest,  and  the  external  sensoria  of  tlie  head, 
is   the   sphere   of  efiTects ;   the  brain,  and   the   whole    ot   its 
appendages,  are  the  sphere  of  causes  ;  the  cortical  substances 
of  the  brain  are  the  sphere  of   ends  or  principles.     Tliese 
spheres  are  subordinated  to  each  other  in  just  series  from  tlie 
highest  to  the  lowest.     The  highest  degree  or  sphere  is  active, 
the  lowest  is  passive  or  reactive.     The  above  degrees,  in  their 
order,  indicate  the  progression  from  universal  and  singulars 
to  generals  or  compounds.     But  every  organ  again  involves 
the°same  triplicity  of  spheres ;  it  consists  of  least  parts,  which 
are   congregated   into   larger,   and   these    into    largest.     All 
perfections  ascend   and   descend   according   to   degrees,   and 
all  attributes,  functions,  forces,  modes,  in  a  word,  all  acci- 
dents, follow  their  substances,  and  are  similarly  discriminated. 
Each  degree  is  enveloped  witli   its    common   covering,  and 
communicates   with   those    below   it   thereby.     Tliere   is   no 
continuous    progression    from  a  lower    degree   to   a   higher, 
and  in  transcending  that  unity,  we  leap  out  of  one  series  inlo 
another,  in  which  all  the  predicates  of  force,  form,  perfection, 
&c.,  are  changed  and    exalted.     The  Doctrine  of  Degrees 
enables  us  to  obtain  a  distinct  idea  of  the  general  principles 
of  creation,  and   to   observe   the  unity  of  plan   that  reigns 
throughout  any  given  organic  subject ;  and  by  showing  that 
all  things  are  distinct  representations  of  end,  cause,  and  effect, 
it  empowers  the  mind  to  refer  variety  to  unity,  as  the  effect 


swedenborg's  science. 


93 


to  the  canse,  and  the  cause  to  the  end,  and  to  recognize  the 
whole  constitution  of  each  series  as  homogeneous  with  its 

^""  Series   is   the  form  under  which   the   co-ordination  and 
subordination   of   things,   according  to   order    and   degrees, 
ultimately  present  themselves.     The  whole  body  is  a  series, 
which  may  be  looked  at  either  generally,  from  above  to  below, 
as  comprising  the  head,  the  chest,  and  the  abdomen ;  or  uni- 
versally, from  within  to  without,  as  divisible  into  the  three 
spheres  already  alluded  to.     All  the  organs  of  each  region  are 
a  series ;  each  organ  in  itself  is  a  series  ;  and  every  part  in 
each  or^an  likewise.     In  short,  every  thing  is  a  series  and  in 
a  series     There  are  both  successive  and  simidtaneous  series, 
but  the  latter  always  arise  from  the  former.     Essences,  at- 
tributes,  accidents,  and  qualities,  follow  their  substances  in 
their  series.     Every  series  has  its  own  first  substance,  which 
is  more  or  less  universal  according  as  the  series  is  more  or 
less  "eneral.     This  first  substance  is  its  simple,  unity,  or  least 
form"  governing  in  the  entire  series,  and  by  its  gradual  com- 
position forming  the  whole.     Each  series  has  its  limits   and 
ranches  only  from  its  minimum  to  its  maximun.     A^  hatever 
hanscends  those  limits  at  either  end,  becomes  part  of  another 
series.     The  compounds  of  all  series  represent  their  simples 
and    show   their   form,   nature,   and    mode   of  action      The 
Doctrine  of  Series  and  Society  teaches  that  contigmty  and 
continuity  of  structure  are  indicative  of  relationship  of  func- 
tion, and  that  what  goes  on  in  one  part  of  a  series,  goes 
on  also,  with  a  determinable  variety,  in  all  the  other  parts 
wherefore  each  organ  is  to  be  judged  of,  and  analyzed,  by  all 
the  others  that  are  above  and  around  it.     In  this  manner,  the 
whole  series  is  the  means  of  showing  the  function  of  each 
part  of  itself,  and  indeed  of  analyzing  that  function  into  a 
Lies  similar  to  that  of  the  whole  ;  for  the  least  m  every  senes 
must  represent  an  idea  of  its  universe     Under  the  opera^on 
of  this  law,  the  point  becomes  a  world  analogous  to  the  great 
world,  but  infinitely  more  perfect,  potent,  and  universal. 

"  Such  is  a  very  brief  illustration  of  the  Doctrines  of  Or  er 
and  Dem-ees,  Series  and  Society,  from  which  it  will  be  evident 
how  clolely    onnected  these  doctrines  are,  and  that  they  can 


/ 


94 


swedenborg's  science. 


swedenborg's  science. 


95 


hardly  be  stated  without  our  seeming  to  repeat  of  one  what 
has  already  been  predicated  of  the  others.  Degrees  appear 
to  involve  the  distinct  progressions  of  creation  from  above  to 
below  or  from  within  to  without :  order,  to  appertain  to  the 
law  of  succession  observed  in  degrees,  whereby  rank  and 
height  are  given  to  excellence,  priority,  universality,  and 
perfection  ;  series,  to  involve  the  complex  of  the  whole  and 
the  parts  when  created  and  co-existing ;  and  society,  to  be  the 
law  of  contiguity  and  relationship  existing  between  diiFerent 
series,  and  between  the  parts  of  any  single  series.  Perhaps 
it  would  not  be  far  wrong  to  state  in  generals,  that  order  and 
degrees  involve  the  creating  and  successive;  series  and  society, 
the  created  and  simuhaneous.  But  as  we  have  said  before, 
Swcdcnborg  never  stated  these  doctrines  ag'  promised  in  the 
'  Animal  Kingdom,'  but  contented  himself  with  using  them  as 
analytic  instruments  in  the  exploration  of  the  body. 

'*  The  Doctrine  of  Influx  involves  the  manner  in  which  the 
lower  substances,  forms  and  forces  of  the  body  subsist,  as 
they  at  first  existed,  from  the  higher  and  the  highest ;  and 
in  which  the  body  itself  subsists  from  the  soul,  as  it  at  first 
existed  ;  and  the  natural  world  from  the  spiritual.  But  there 
is  not  only  an  influx  from  within,  but  also  from  without ;  and 
by  virtue  of  both,  the  body,  which  otherwise  would  be  a  mere 
power,  is  raised  into  an  active  force.  * 

"  The  Doctrine  of  Correspondence  and  Representation 
teaches  that  the  natural  sphere  is  the  counterpart  of  the 
spiritual,  and  presents  it  in  a  mirror ;  consequently  that  the 
forms  and  processes  of  the  body  are  images  of  the  forms  and 
activities  of  the  soul,  and,  when  seen  in  the  right  order,  bring 
them  forth  and  declare  them.  It  shows  that  nature  is  the  type 
of  which  the  spiritual  world  is  the  ante-type,  and  therefore  is 
the  first  school  for  instruction  in  the  realities  of  that  which  is 
living  and  eternal. 

"  The  Doctrine  of  Modification  teaches  the  laws  of  nation 
and  change  of  state  in  the  several  auras  or  atmospheres  of 
the  world,  and  in  their  spiritual  correspondents,  "j- 


♦  "  See  *  Animal  Kingdom,'  n.  573,  note  o." 
t  "  See  ibid.,  n.  359,  note  e." 


u  What  was  stated  of  the  Doctrines  of  Order,  Degrees, 
Series  and  Society,  as  mutually  supposing,  or  as  it  were  m- 
terpenetrating  each  other,  maybe  repeated  generally  of  the 
whole  of  these  doctrines,  and  this,  because  they  are  all  but  so 
^any  Varied  aspects  of  the  one  principle  of  divine  truth  or 
Trder.     Like  nature  itself  they  are  a  series,  each  Imk  of  which 

involves  all  the  others."  . 

73  We  shall  now  follow  Swedenborg  more  m  detail  m 
his  scientific  career,  with  Dr.  Wilkinson  as  our  guide.  He 
first  "  gathers  up  his  cliaracter  and  properties  m  his  youth 
and  early   manhood,   from   1688  to  1720,  in    the   following 

"Swedenborg    germinated,   as    nearly  all  children  do,   in 
theolo<^;   rose   thence   into   poetry   and  literature,   speed.ly 
alternating  them  with  mathematics  ;  out  of  these  proceeded 
mechanical  and  physical  studies  having  a  reference  to  practice 
His  early  manhood  .vas  devoted  to  active  employment,  and 
spent  partly  under  the  eye  and  command  of  the  most  severe 
of  Swedish  kings  (Charles  XII).     Even  at  tins  time  a  w,de  y 
comtcmplative  element  glimmers   from  the  treatises  that  he 
then  produced.     His  ardent  pursuit  of  geology,  then  a  com- 
paratively new    science,  was   already  converting  itself  into 
cosmogonical  speculations.     We  are  not  indeed  aware  that 
any  great  brilliancy  was  displayed  in  his  works  up  to  this 
date,  but  rather  great  industry,  fertile  plans,  a  belief  in  the 
penetrability  of  problems  usually  given  up  by  the  learned  a 
gradual  and  experimental  faculty,  and  an  absence  of  precocity. 
In  re.'ard   to   general  truths,  he  showed  the   evidence  of  a 
slowly-apprehending,  persevering,  and  at  last  thoroughly  com- 
prehending  mind.     If  we  may  use  the  metaphor,  the  masonry 
of  his  intellect  was  large,  slow,  and  abiding,  but  by  no  means 
showy;  from  the  parts  hitherto  constructed,  we  could  hardly 
prophesy  whether  the  superstructure  would  be  a  viaduct,  or  a 
temple  ;  a  wori  of  bare  utility,  or  a  palace  for  sovereignty 

and  state.  „  , , 

«  On  the  moral  side,  we  infer  strong  but  controllable  passions, 

not  interfering  with  the  balance  of  his  mind,  or  the  deepness  of 

his  leisure.     His  filial  atfection  is  briUiant,  though  we  have  no 

record  of  the  extent  of  his  obligations  to  his  mother,  whose 


96 


swedenborg's  science. 


death  took  place  in  1720,  to  his  father's  '  great  grief  and  loss. ' 
His  energy  and  fidelity  in  his  business  commended  him  to 
those  above  him,  and  he  was  probably  more  indebted  to  in- 
trinsic qualities  for  his  position,  than  to  his  family  connections, 
or  to  clever  courtiership  on  his  own  part.  His  religious  beliefs 
at  this  time  nowhere  appear ;  but,  from  indications  in  his 
books  and  letters,  it  is  certain  that  his  miud  was  not  inactive 
upon  the  greatest  of  subjects,  and  that  he  was  a  plain  believer 
in  revelation,  though  not  without  his  own  conjectures  about  its 
meaning  and  import.  Such  was  Swedenborg  in  the  spring 
and  flower  of  his  long  manhood."  —  Life  of  Swedenborg^  pp. 
20,  21. 

In  1721  Swedenborg  published  ""Some  Specimens  of  a  Work 
on  the  Principles  of  Chemistry,  with  other  Treatises"  and  in  1722 
"  Miscellaneous  Observations  connected  with  the  Physical  Sci- 
ences"    Dr.  Wilkinson  continues  :  — 

"  In  the  works  we  have  just  enumerated,  Swedenborg  began 
his  travels  into  future  ages  ;  he  manifested  the  tokens  of  a 
light  distinct  from  contemporary  genius,  and,  with  a  very 
decided  intrepidity,  attempted  to  scale  the  proximate  heights  of 
nature.  The  fortress  of  mineral  truth  was  the  first  which  he 
approached,  and  with  the  most  guarded  preparation.  His 
method  Avas  furnished  by  geometry  and  mechanics ;  the  laws 
of  the  pure  sciences  w^ere  to  be  the  interpreters  of  the  facts  of 
chemistry  and  physics.  '  The  beginning  of  nature,'  says  he, 
'  is  identical  with  the  beginning  of  geometry ;  the  origin  of 
natural  particles  is  due  to  mathematical  points,  just  as  the 
origin  of  lines,  forms,  and  the  whole  of  geometry ;  because 
every  thing  in  nature  is  geometrical,  every  thing  in  geometry 
natural.'  As  the  phenomena  of  the  heavens  have  at  length 
suggested  an  astronomy  founded  on  mechanical  laws,  and  in- 
volving definite  forms  and  movements,  so  it  was  Swedenborg's 
design  to  elicit  from  the  phenomena  of  chemistry,  the  shapes, 
motions  and  other  conditions  of  the  atoms  or  unities  of  bodies, 
and  thus  to  introduce  clearness  into  our  conception  of  chemical 
combinations  and  decompositions.  Unlike  the  chemists  of  our 
day,  he  made  no  doubt  that  chemistry,  in  its  inmost  bosom, 
was  amenable  to  the  rules  of  mechanics,  and  that  there  was 
nothing  necessarily  mysterious  in  it — nothing  occult — nothing 


swedenborg's  science. 


97 


but  a  peculiar  portion  of  the  ubiquitous  clock-work  of  space 
and  time.     His  theory  was  this  — that  roundness  is  the  form 
adapted  to  motion  ;  that  the  particles  of  fluids,  and  specifically 
of  water,  are  round,  hollow  spherules,  with  a  subtle  matter, 
identical  with  ether  or   caloric,  in  their  interiors  and  inter- 
stices ;  that  the  crust,  or  crustal  portion,  of  each  particle  is  itself 
formed  of  lesser  particles,  and  these  again  of  lesser,  and  so 
forth ;  water,  being  in  this  way  the  sixth  dimension,  or  the 
result  of  the  sixth  grouping  of  the  particles  ;  that  the  mter- 
stices  of  the  fluids  furnish  the  original  moulds  of  the  solids,  and 
the  rows  of  crustal  particles  forced  off  one  by  one  by  various 
a-encies,  furnish  the  matter  of  the   same  ;  that   after  solid 
particles  are  thus  cast  in  their  appropriate  moulds,  their  frac- 
ture a--re<mtion,  the  filling  in  of  their  pores  and  interstices  by 
lesse'r  plirtrdes,  and  a  number  of  other  and  accidental  condi^ 
tions,  provide  the  units  of  the  muUiform  substances  of  which 
the  mineral  kingdom  is  composed.     According  to  this  theory, 
then  there  is  but  one  substance  in  the  world,  namely,  the  first ; 
the  difference  of  things  is  difference  of  form ;  there  are  no 
positive,  but  only  relative  atoms ;  no  metaphysical,  but  only 
real  elements  ;  moreover,  the  heights  of  chemical  doctrine  can 
be  scaled  by  rational  induction  alone,  planted  on  the  basis  of 
analysis,  svnthesis  and  observation." 

In  another  place  he  says  :     ''  There  seems  no  reason  why 
the  intellect  should  not  at  length  reach  such  a  position,  though 
how  far  Swedenborg  has  attained  it,  geniuses  kindred  to  his 
own,  if  the  old  method  of  thought  be  permanent,  can  pel^iaps 
alone  decide.     We  ought,  however,  to  note  that  rigidly  me- 
chanical as  our  author's  theory  appears,  it  has  at  its  core,  in 
what  he  calls  '  the  subtle  matter,'  a  latent  dynamical  principle 
which  shapes  and  guides  the  mechanical  one,  and  upon  which 
Swedenborg  largely  draws  ;  although  it  must  be  confessed  that 
in  his  theo°ry  of  fire,  he  boldly  pushes  mechanics  even  into 
that  fluid  restlessness,  and  harnesses  the  very  horses  of  the 
sun  to  the  car  of  his  ambitious  geometry.     Was  he  right,  or 
was  he  not,  in  supposing  that  knowledge  of  nature  is  only  co- 
extensive with  mechanical  ideas,  and  that  though  these  do  not 
give  motion,  or  life,  yet  where  they  are  absent,  being  itself 
falls  through  into  nothingness  ?     We  apprehend  that  the  history 

9 


98 


swedenborg's  science. 


of  science  will  tell  us,  upon  whatever  ascertained  truth  we  fix, 
that  that  truth  has  a  mechanical  precision  or  basis,  and  that 
though  it  may  have  vital  contents  besides,  yet  these  are  only 
true°in  themselves  so  far  as  they  also  are  similarly  founded 
and  embodied.     The  faith  in  this  principle,  as  it  is  successively 
produced,  appears  in  fact  to  be  in  the  mind  the  essential  out- 
line of  the  new  sciences  ;  and  the  man  who  has  the  faith  first, 
enters  the  field  thereby,  and  is  the  first  to  reap  the  knowledge. 
"  Before  dismissing  the  Miscellaneous   Observations,  we  will 
remark  upon  the  pleasant   mixture    of  practice   and   theory 
which  prevails  in  the  work,  and  upon  the  extraordinary  activity 
of  the   author's   senses.     Well  does    Sandel  say,  that  it  was 
not  only  mines  he  went  to  examine,  but  that  '  of  all  that  could 
fix  the  attention  of  a  traveller  there  Avas  nothing  that  escaped 
him.'     His  observations  are  told  in  an  easy  style,  which  Avin  the 
reader's  confidence,  and  one  wishes  that  one  had  shared  with 
his  fellow-traveller.  Dr.  John  Hesscl,  the  way-side  conversation 
of  so  instructive  and  amusing  a  pilgrimage. 

''  '  The  Consistory  of  the  University  and  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  of  Upsal,'  as  Sandel  says,  '  did  themselves  the  honor 
of  being  the  first  to  acknowledge  the  merit  of  their  illustrious 
countryman,  and  to  show  him  marks  of  their  esteem.  In  1724 
the  Consistory  had  invited  him  to  accept  the  professorship  of 
pure  mathematics,  vacant  by  the  death  of  Nil  Celsius ;  be- 
cause, as  they  expressed  themselves,  his  acceptance  of  the 
ofiice  would  be  for  the  advantage  of  the  students  and  to  the 
ornament  of  the  University.  But  he  declined  the  honor.  The 
Academy  of  Sciences  admitted  him  into  the  number  of  its 
members  in  1729.' 

"  Apropos  of  pure  mathematics,"  Dr.  Wilkinson  remarks 
here,  "  he  makes  some  amusing  remarks  in  a  letter  to  his 
brother-in-law  :  '  I  wonder  at  Messieurs  the  mathematicians,' 
says  he,  '  having  lost  all  heart  and  spirit  to  realize  that  fine 
design  of  yours  for  an  astronomical  observatory.  It  is  the 
fatality  of  mathematicians  to  remain  chiefly  in  theory.  I  have 
often  thought  it  would  be  a  capital  thing  if  to  each  ten  mathe- 
maticians one  good  practical  man  were  added,  to  lead  the  rest 
to  market ;  he  would  be  of  more  use  and  mark  than  all  the 


swedenborg's  science. 


99 


ten  '     One  can  understand  why  a  professorship  of  pure  mathe- 
matics was  not  the  chosen  vocation  of  Swedenborg. 

^u  Durin-  this  time  his  books  were  reviewed  with  commenda- 
tion  in  the  Acta  Eruditorum,  published  at  Leipsic,  the  great 
iterary  and  scientific  organ  of  the  times ;  his  contributions  to 
,rt  and  science  being  thankfully  acknowledged,  although  his 
Iheories  brought  the  reviewers  to  a  non-plus,  and  made  them 
exclaim,  with  a  postponement  of  which  we  also  must  avail 
ourselves  —  let  others  decide." 

Dr.  Wilkinson  continues  :  —  oca 

"  We  are  now  about  to  enter  upon  another  era  of  Sweden- 
bor'^'s  life,  when  his  tentative  youth  and  manhood  were  past, 
and^ie  came  into  possession  of  a  region  all  his  own,  and  pre- 
sided  there  with  an  almost  despotic  strength  of  affirmation ;  at 
which  we  must  not  wonder,  for  whether  owing  to  the  fault  or 
discernment  of  his  contemporaries,  he  inhabited  his  intellectual 
estate  unquestioned,  unlimited,  uncontradicted  and  alone,     ^o 
longer  an  issuer  of  pamphlets,  or  an  ordinary  petitioner  of  the 
artJ  and  sciences,  he  had  for  years  lain  fallow  of  small  at- 
tempts,  and  had  accumulated  the  resources  of  his  untiring  in- 
dustry and  observation,  in  a  work  with  which  his  great  career 
may  be  said  to  have  commenced.     We  allude  to  his  Pnncipia. 
This  was  the  first  folio  volume  of  three,  collectively 
bcarino-  the  title  of  Philosophical  and  Mineral  Works,  which 
were  completed  and  published  at  Dresden  and  Leipsic  m  the 

middle  of  1734.  ...  tm  -i       t    i 

'^  It  is  a  strange  general  title  which  he  chose  —  Philosophical 
and  Mineral  Works,  but  there  is  a  meaning  in  this  uncommon 
bleudin-.  Philosophy  is  nothing,  just  in  proportion  as  it  is  not 
married  with  all  things ;  and  in  the  ascending  scale  of  its  alli- 
ances, it  first  solicits  the  hand  of  the  mineral  universe,  before 
arrivin-  at  the  higher  degrees.  Such,  at  all  events,  was 
Swedenborg's  method,  which  his  title  justly  conveyed ;  and  he 
afterwards  rose  to  the  union  of  the  philosophical  and  organic, 
and  finally  to  the  marriage  of  the  philosophical  and  the  human. 
It  is  there  alone  that  philosophy  realizes  its  first  love,  and  sub- 
jugating the  earthly  bond,  freshens  itself  age  after  age  m  con- 
ta  °t  with  that  better  nature  which  contains  the  eternal. 

''  We   must,  however,   sunder   the   philosophical   and  the 


100 


swedenborg's  science. 


mineral,  and  look  separately  at  each,  for  the  author  kept  them 
perfectly  free  and  distinct,  though  not  disunited.     And  first  for 
the  treatises  on  mining.     These  were  Swedenhorg's  offering  to 
his  business  and  position  ;  the  earnest  of  his  desire  to  leave  the 
metallurgic  world  better  than  he  found  it.     The  second  folio 
volume   (p.   396)  is  on  iron;  the  third   (p.  516)   on  copper 
and  brass.     Facts  speak  well  for  their  practical  value.     The 
chapters  on  the  conversion  of  iron  into  steel  were  reprinted  at 
Strasbur<T  in   1737  ;  and   the  treatise  on  iron  was   translated 
into  French  by  Bouchu,  and  published  at  Paris  in  1702  in  the 
magnificent  Description  des  Arts  et  Metiers.  .  .  .     Each  vol- 
ume has  a  threefold  division ;  the  first  part  on  smelting,  the 
second  on  assaying,  the  third  on  the  chemical  processes  and 
experiments  about  the  metals.     Each  volume  is  ushered  in  by 
a  characteristic  preface.     In  that  of  iron,  the  author  avows 
his  desire  to  collect  and  publish  the  mining  and  metallurgic 
secrets  of  different  countries,  and  iudignantly  denounces  those 
who  keep  them  from  the  public  for  the  purpose  of  private  gain. 
He  also  shows  his  partiality  for  metallurgy  as  being  a  thor- 
ougldy  practical    science,  '  all  whose  details  are  squared  with 
works  ' ;  yet  desires  '  that  it  may  enter  into  friendly  relations 
with  chemistry,  and  the  two  join  hands,  and  tend  uuitedly  to 
one    and   the   same    goal.'      He    further   states,   that  it  had 
been  his  intention  to  give  '  a  theoretical  treatise  on  the  metals,' 
but  that  an  integral  survey  of  chemistry  and  the  elemental 
world  was  necessary  to  such  an  inquiry  :  which  again  shows 
the  practical  tendency  to  unity,  to  regard  his  subjects  in  their 
planetary  dimension,  which  was  with  him  a  constant  method, 
and  fToverned  all  particular  investigations.     In  the  preface  on 
copper,  we  have  a  gorgeous  description  of  his  native  mine  at 
Falun,  and  a  statement  of  the  author's  views  of  the  causes 
and  advantages  of  the  deluge — not,  Jiowever,  the  Noahtic, 
but  a  cosmogonic  deluge  ;  of  how  it  brought  the  treasures  of 
the   earth  to  the  surface,  and  by  opening  the   womb  of  the 
general  mother,  contributed  to  the  multiplication  of  causes  and 
occasions,  and  to  the  variety  of  telluric  substances. 

"  That  a  mind  of  such  potent  theoretical  tendency  should 
have  had  strength  to  undergo  the  dry  labor  of  these  compilations 
—  that  one  who  breathed  his  native  air  in  a  profound  region 


swedenborg's  science. 


101 


of  causes,  should  come  for  so  long  an  abiding  in  the  lower 
places  of  the  earth,  to  record  facts,  processes  and  machmeries, 
as'  a  self-imposed  task  in  fulfilment  of  his  station  as  Assessor 
of  Mines  —this  is  one  remarkable  feature  of  a  case  where  so 
much  is  remarkable,  and  shows  how  manly  was  his  will  m 
whatever  sphere  he  exerted  himself.  The  books  of  such  a 
man  are  properly  works,  not  to  be  confounded  for  a  moment 
with  the  many-colored  idleness  of  a  large  class  who  are  de- 
nominated '  thinkers.' 

"  The  Princwia  next  claims  our  attention,  and  calls  forcibly 
to  mind  the  truth  of  a  remark  by  Mr.  Emerson,  that  it  would 
require   'a   colony  of  men'    to   do  justice    to  the  works  of 
Swedenbor"-.     From  the  barest  descriptions  of  iron  and  copper 
works   such  as  the  Vulcanian  workmen  might  themselves  ap- 
precia'te,  we  arrive  by  a  step  at  the  pinnacle  of  one  of  those 
mountains  where  a  Newton  and  a  Humboldt  might  be  useful  f el- 
low-watchers  of  the  most  delicate  laws  on  the  one  hand,  of  the 
panorama  of  a  subjacent  universe  on  the  other.     We  pay  the 
work  no  ill  compliment,  and  have  the  authority  of  the  transla- 
tor of  The  Principia  with  us,  when  we  state  our  belief  that  it 
still  belongs  to  the  future.     The  following  is  a  short  account  of 
the  book  from  Mr.  Clissold's  preface  :  — 

'  The  object  of  the  Principia  is  to  trace  out  a  true  system  of 
the  world,  and  in  so  doing  the  author  has  distributed  his  subject 
into  three  Parts.     The  First  Part  treats  of  the  origin  and  laws 
of  motion,  and  is  mostly  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  its 
first  principles ;  which  are  investigated  philosophically,  then 
geometrically,  their  existence  being  traced  from  a  first  natural 
point  down  to  the  formation  of  a  solar  vortex,  and  afterwards 
from  the  solar  vortex  to  the  successive  constitution  of    the 
elements  and  of  the  three  kingdoms  of  nature.     From  the 
first  element  to  the  last  compound  it  is  the  author's  object  to 
show  that  effort  or  conatus  to  motion  tends  to  a  spiral  figure ; 
and  that  there  is  an  actual  motion  of  particles  constituting  a 
solar  chaos,  which  is  spiral  and  consequently  vortical. 

'  In  the  Second  Part  the  author  applies  this  theory  of  vor- 
tical motion  to  the  phenomena  of  magnetism,  by  which  on  the 
one  hand  he  endeavors  to  test  the  truth  of  his  principles,  and 
on  the  other  by  application  of  the  principles  to  explain  the 

9* 


102 


swedenborg's  science. 


phenomena   of  magnetism;    the   motion   of   the   magnetical 
effluvia  being,  as  in  the  former  case,  considered  to  be  vortical. 

'  In  the  Third  Part  the  author  applies  the  same  principles  of 
motion  to  Cosmogony,  including  the  origination  of  the  plane- 
tary bodies  from  the  sun,  and  their  vortical  revolutions  until 
they  arrived  at  their  present  orbit ;  likewise  to  the  constitution 
and  the  laws  of  the  three  kingdoms  of  nature,  the  animal, 
vegetable  and  mineral ;  so  that  the  entire  Principia  aims  to 
establish  a  true  theory  of  vortices,  founded  upon  a  true  system 
of  corpuscular  philosophy.' 

"  In  this  work,  then,  the  author  applies  an  active  geometry 
to  the  mundane  system,  carrying  the  conception  of  a  spiral 
movement  down  the  stairway  of  natural  being,  and  showing 
the  productions  and  evolution  of  the  motion  in  its  various 
spheres;  thereby  accounting,  on  a  single  principle,  for  the 
properties  of  atoms,  as  of  universes  ;  and  piercing  the  genera- 
tive process  of   worlds  by  the  same  law  that  beholds  their 

actual  state.  .   .  . 

''In  spite  of  the  signal  piety  displayed  throughout  the 
Principia,  the  work  was  prohibited  by  the  Papal  authority  in 
1739,  because,  as  Mr.  Clissold  thinks,  it  was  held  to  contra- 
vene the  position  that  God  created  all  things  out  of  nothing; 
and  also  because  of  the  difficulty  of  reconciling  such  a  process 
of  creation  as  Swedenborg  conceives  with  the  literal  interpre- 
tation of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  Respecting  the  first 
reason,  Mr.  Clissold  keenly  remarks,  that  '  no  definition  is 
more  common  than  that  truth  is  that  ivliith  is;  hence,  in  a 
corresponding  sense,  untruth,  error  or  falsehood  is  that  which 
is  not,  and  consequently  that  which  is  the  genuine  nonentity  — 
or,  nothing.  Upon  this  ground,  to  say  that  God  created  all 
things  out  of  nothing,  is  to  attribute  the  origin  of  all  things  to 
error,  and  hence  to  evil.* " 

At  Dresden  and  Leipsic,  in  the  same  year,  (1734,)  with  the 
volumes  we  have  just  described,  he  published,  also,  Outlines 
of  a  Philosophical  Argument  on  the  Infinite,  and  the  Final 
Cause  of  Creation  ;  and  on  the  Intercourse  between  the  Sotd  and 
the  Bodij.  Dr.  Wilkinson  says  of  this  work,  which  he  trans- 
lated into  English,  "  This  work  may  be  regarded,  as  in  a 
measure,  a  supplement  to  the  Principia,  following  a  similar 


swedenborg's  science. 


103 


«.ethod  with  that  treatise  ;  for  the  author  here  also  proceea 
^om  the  common  conceptions  of  the  finite  and  infinite,  and  of 
rso^l  and  the  body"  to  construct  a  system  o    relations 
ich  he  afterwards  applies  to  the  facts  of  Revelation    a.d 
^us  ac^ain  imbeds  the  abstract  world  of  truth  in  the  r  al 
'    V^nother  place  (  "  Popular  Sketch  of  Swedenborg  sP^^^^^ 
sophical  Works,"  p.  13)   he  says,  "  T^^iynviting  booW^^ 
nl'ivs  a  noble  liberty  of  thinking,  and  claims  the  right  to 
Ssop^^^^^  on  the  dLpest  subjects  ;  -d  itself  pa^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
inceptions  in  some  of  the  dimmest  regions  of  inquiry ,  dis 
:     n^ltaphysics  as  a  mere  simulation  of  method   and 
kTowl^dge,  and   leaning  on   the    sciences   as  a  nee^ul  step 
between  common  sense  and  universal  philosophy      We  may, 
ho  Ler,  also  record   that,  like   every  one  of  Swedenborg  s 
:  ks  i^  insists  or  implies  that  the  human  mind  has  no  im.. 
ideas    but  that  man  begins  from  total  ignorance,   and   has 
em^thinc.  to  learn  ;  and  that  all  knowledge  may  properly  be 
nueSneS  which  is  not  capable  of  being  carried  on  by  stages 
and  series,  from  less  to  more,  and  involving  greater  mult  - 
?city  of   details,  as  well  as  increased   unity  of  principle 
?hus!  those  intuitions  .vhich  are  supposed  to  arrive  a   once  a 
completeness,  may  safely  be  thrown  into   the  retor    of  the 
i^L,  to  be  re-distilled  into  other  a^d  more  tractable Jbi.^^^^ 
For  progress  is  a  law  at  once  most  general  and  most  par- 

'''Se'publication  of  the  preceding  works  gave  Swedenborg  a 
European   reputation,    and   his    correspondence   was   eagerly 
LZ  by  Christian  Wolff,  and  others  of  the  learned^      In 
n^4  Del  17,  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences  oPete^ 
bur.  appointed  him  a  corresponding  member.     1^1 7^0-41  he 
rblshed,  in  4to,  at  Amsterdam,  his  Economy  of  the  Amma 
S-t-"  alarge  work,"  as  Dr.  Wilkinson  says,  '^m  which 
fu    courteous  miner  sunk  a  shaft  into  the  deep  veins  of  the 
olnic  sciences."     Probably  on  his  return  to  his  own  countij 
he^ecame  a  Fellow,  by  invitation  of  the  I^oyal  Aca^^^^^^^^^ 
Sciences  of  Stockholm,  then  first  incorporated  by  a  charter 
?om  the  Crown,  though  founded  as  a  private  association  by 
Linnaeus  and  a  few  friends  m  1739.  wnkin^^on 

Before  introducing  us  to  the  -Economy;^  Dr.  Wilkinson 


104 


swedenborg's  science. 


swedenborg's  science. 


105 


says,  "  We  must  now  spend  a  few  moments  in  tracing  Sweden- 
bo  rg's  advent  to  the  Animal  Kingdom,  under  which  title  he 
exclusively  signified  the  human  body. 

"  At  the  outset  of  his  studies  he  lets  us  know  in  an  early 
letter,  that  he  had  come  to  a  '  determination  to  penetrate  from 
the  very  cradle  to  the  maturity  of  nature  * — from  the  atoms 
of  chemistry  to  the  atoms  of  astronomy — from  the  smallest 
groups  to  the  largest — from  the  molecular  to  the  universal ; 
and  his  determination,  which  hitherto  impelled  him  along  the 
varied  line  of  physics,  now  took  wings,  and  combining  with  a 
higher  nature,  carried  him  into  the  realms  of  organization. 
He  had  touched  upon  this  region  many  times  in  the  course  of 
his  physical  preamble,  but  gently  and  modestly,  and  as  it  were 
with  pausing  footsteps.  In  the  Miscellaneous  Observations  he 
had  admired  the  facile  circulation  of  the  blood  in  the  capil- 
laries. In  a  manuscript  of  about  the  same  date  he  entered  at 
considerable  length  into  a  doctrine  of  the  membranes,  and 
followed  to  a  certain  extent  the  same  track  as  Hartley  after- 
wards, in  his  famous  sclieme  of  vibrations.  In  the  Frincipia 
he  had  laid  down  the  law,  that  the  human  frame  is  an  organism 
respondent  to  the  vibrations  and  powers  of  all  the  mundane 
elements  ;  that  there  is  a  membrane  and  fluid  within  the  body, 
beatiug  time  and  keeping  tuue  with  airs  and  auras  in  the 
universe  ;  that  man  and  nature  are  co-ordinate  in  the  anatom- 
ical sphere  ;  that  the  body  is  one  vast  instinct  acting  according 
to  the  circumstances  of  the  external  world.  In  the  Outlines 
this  correspondence  is  re-asserted  in  a  masterly  style,  and  more- 
over the  human  body  is  opened  somewhat,  as  a  machine  whose 
utter  wisdom  harmonizes  with  God  alone,  and  leads  right 
minds  to  God  ;  but  in  all  these  works  the  author's  deductions 
are  close  to  facts,  comparatively  timid,  and  limited  to  the 
service  in  each  instance  of  the  particular  argument  in  hand. 
Yet  it  is  easy  to  see  from  all,  that  he  was  laboriously  wending 
his  way  from  the  first  to  the  temple  of  the  body,  at  whose  altar 
he  expected  to  find  the  soul,  as  the  priest  of  the  Most  High 
God. 

"  It  is  evident  that  his  studies  for  compassing  this  object, 
were  of  no  common  intensity.  He  made  himself  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  works  of  the  best  anatomists  of  his  own 


or,^    transcribed  from  their   pages   the 
and  preceding   ages,   and  ™"^^^       ^^^^,  ,,,,  i^  fact  a 

descriptions  suited  to  Ins  P^^^'  «^^  jje  made  a  note- 
^.auuscript  encyclopedia  for  ^^^  J^ Jf;.^^^^,  .  ^nd  labored 
book  also  of  the  technical  terms  of  ^  ^/rsebo Lr,  as  he  was 
to  be  before  his  age  in  the  conven^ences^  ^^.We   do  not 

3aid  he  attended  tl.  ^^^^^^^^^  for  which      • 

at  the  same  t.me  as  the  elder  iuo 

is,  however,  only  traclu.ond  ^td^e  o  tbo  body  cLfly 
that  Svvedenborg  derived  1"« /°°'"''=  Y  ho  was  one  who  lost 
from  plates  and  books,  though  assuredly  he  wan^w      ^^ 

-  opportunity  of  P-^^^  ^^^^^^^^^^^^  l^^:^.  Jould  by 

dissection,  but  reiiea  m  i"  ^^^e^r^A  these  in  accuracy, 

accredited  authorities,  as  hopeless    o;^-f  ^^'^f;;^  ^    others, 
also  as  being  -e  imj^rtja  c..r  the^^^^ -  supp^  ^^  J^  ^^  ^^^ 

ond   moreover,  as  teeling  ms  owu  vuv,ct 

,.au  that  his  P"--P":r  Ws  Thilot  hSl  and  Mineral 
time  of  the  publication  ol  his  ^"^  P  in  1744-45  he 
works,-a  period  of  elevenj^ars^to2M4^^J>^^ 

'.     \  ~„  ,,,:,  niicstion  by  the  following  pas- 

.  Considerable  light  is  thrown  on  *!^J"^'™"  /A„i„al  Kingdom," 

same  time  the  atmospUres  !f°\'J'°^''^^  atmospheres  and  their 
.m  m  other.-    After  -entio    ng  the  d^  ren^  ^  .^^^  P^^  .^  ^^  ^^^_ 

modifications,  he  says:      These  tningi  ^articles  of  each  atmo- 

osophical  Principles,  .here  ^^if^'"'^  %^^/Z^^  J,  ^nii..  io. 

^i''-«-f„t:f;r1t:::  come^rraUafion;   I  pass  over 
our  present  purpose,     -tf.  i>uw  .  .v^orP  " 

all  descriptions,  for  they  are  ^^^^f  ^^^f '^^^^^  investigations  were 

Swedenborg's  cosmological  and  physiological  inve    s 


106 


SWEDENBORG*S   SCIENCE. 


published  his  Animal  Kingdom  in  4to,  Parts  I.  and  II.,  at  the 
Hague,  Part  III.  in  London.  ...  We  shall  now  give  a 
brief  general  account  of  his  contributions  to  philosophical 
anatomy,  including  under  our  remarks  the  whole  of  his 
treatises  in  this  department. 

'•  The  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom  treats  of  the  blood 
and  the  organs  which   contain  it,  of  the  coincidence  between 
the  movements  of  the  brain  and  lungs,  and  of  the   human 
soul ;   The  Animal  Kingdom,  of  the  organs  of  the  abdomen, 
of  those  of  the  chest,  and  of  the  skin.     The  descriptions  of 
the  best  anatomists  are  admirably  selected  as  a  basis  of  facts 
for  each   chapter,  and  prefixed    thereto,  after  which  follows 
the  author's  induction  or  theory,  and  next  a  comment  upon  it, 
illustrated  by  the  previous  facts.     The   method  obviously  is, 
to  state  and  study  the   facts  first  ;  thus   to  elicit  from  them  a 
vintage  of  first  principles ;  and  then  to  keep  and  refine  this 
wine  of  truths  within  the  vessels  of  the  facts,  amplifying  it 
wherever  possible  to  the  unfilled  capacity  of  the  latter,     ft  is 
difficult  to  conceive  a  more   excellent  method  for  philosophical 
anatomy,  or  one  which  keeps  the  stages  of  truth-making  more 
distinct,  or  more  profitable  to  each  other.     There  is  one%essel 
which  is  all  facts  ;  there  is  a  second  which  is  all  principles ; 


thus  carried  on  simultaneously ;  for  the  sole  purpose  for  which  his 
Principia  were  written,  was,  according  to  his  own  declaration,  that  he 
might  gain  an  insight  into  the  mechanism  of  the  eye.     His  anatomical 
and  pliysiological  studies  were  thus  commenced  at  a  much  earher 
period  than  even  Dr.  Wilkinson  had  supposed ;  and  while  Swcden- 
borg,  on  the  one  !  and,  was  investigating  by  a  geometrical  method  the 
different  atmospheres,  finitcs,  actives  and  elementaries  whicli  are  dis- 
cussed in  his  Principia,  he  examined,  on  the  other,  very  carefully  whether 
the  results  at  which  he  arrived  by  his  macrocosmical  investigations, 
squared  with  those  which  he  obtained  by  his  microcosmical  examina- 
tions.    The  peculiar  excellence  of  this  method  is  manifest ;  for  Sweden- 
borg,  by  its  means,  had  a  practical  test  of  the  truth  of  his  deductions. 
When  his  macrocosmical  and  microcosmical  results  harmonized,  there 
was  a  strong  presumptive  proof  of  their  truth,  but  when  they  did  not 
harmonize,  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  be  true.     This  method, 
therefore,  furnishes  another  very  powerful  argument  in  favor  of  the 
truth  of  Swedenborg's  theories. 


swedenborg's  science. 


107 


there  is  a  third  in  which  the  two  come  together,  and  the 
principles  suggest  new  experiments,  and  the  facts  enlarged 
principles.  The  method  is  a  little  image  of  the  grand  cir- 
culation  of  the  sciences,  from  facts  or  confused  general  truths, 
through  universal  truths,  to  particular  or  clear  general  truths. 
There  is  not  one  of  such  truths  but  becomes  a  fact  before  the 

method  has  done  with  it.     .     .     .  ,     -,       •  i 

"  Swedenborg  did  not  attempt   to   enter   the  body  either 
abruptly  or  without  assistance,  but  only  after  gathermg  up 
all   his   mind,    and   marshalling    his    forces,   from   the   first 
generalizations,  in  which  every  childhood  is  fruitful,  down  to 
the  last,  which  his  maturity  supplied.     He  advanced,  m  fact 
under   all   the    discipline   and   with   all   the    machinery   and 
strategy  of  his  age  and  of  his  own  genius,  and  with  the  name 
of  the  God  of  Battles   and   the  Prince  of  Peace  distmctly 
emblazoned  on   his  tranquil    banners.     There   is    something 
really  hushing  and  imposing  in  the  measured  tread  of  his 
le-ions,  in  the  formal  music  which  drills  the  very  air  where 
his  staff  of  general  truths  is  in  the  field,  and  in  the  absence 
of  passion  in  so  firm   a  host  advancing   to   such  important 

conquests.  j     i  n 

" '  I  intend  to  examine,'  says  he,  '  physically  and  philo- 
sophically,  the  whole  anatomy  of  the  body;  of  all  its  viscera, 
abdominal  and  thoracic ;  of  the  genital  members  of  botk 
sexes  ;  and  of  the  organs  of  the  five  senses.     Likewise, 

'  The  anatomy  of  all  the  parts  of  the  cerebrum,  cerebellum, 
medulla  oblongata,  and  spinal  marrow.  ^ 

'  Afterwards,  the  cortical  substance  of  the  two  brains,  and 
their  medullary  fibre ;  also  the  nervous  fibre  of  the  body,  and 
the  muscular  fibre,  and  the  causes  of  the  forces  and  motion  of 
the  whole  organism  :  diseases,  moreover,  those  of  the  head 
particularly,  or  which  proceed  by  defluxion  from  the  brain. 

'  I  purpose  afterwards  to  give  an  introduction  to  Rational 
Psychology,  consisting  of  certain  new  doctrines,  through  the 
assistance^  of  which  we  may  be  conducted  from  the  material 
orc^anism  of  the  body,  to  a  knowledge  of  the  soul  which  is 
immaterial;  these  are  the  Doctrine  of  Forms ;  the  Doctrine 
of  Order  and  Degrees ;  also,  the  Degrees  of  Series  and 
Society ;  and  Doctrine  of  Influx ;    the  Doctrine  of  Corres- 


108 


swedenborg's  science. 


pondence   and  Representation ;   lastly,  the  Doctrine  of  Mod- 
ification. 

'  From  these  doctrines  I  come  to  the  rational  psychology 
itself,  which  will  comprise  the  subject  of  action,  of  external 
and  internal  sense,  of  imagination  and  memory,  also  of  the 
affections  of  the  animus  ;  of  the  intellect,  that  is  to  say,  of 
thought  and  the  will ;  and  of  the  affections  of  the  rational 
mind  ;  also  of  instinct. 

'  Lastly  of  the  soul,  and  of  its  state  in  the  body,  its  inter- 
course, affection  and  immortality ;  and  of  its  state  Avhen  the 
body  dies.  The  work  to  conclude  with  a  Concordance  of 
Systems. 

'From  this  summary  or  plan,  the  reader  may  see  that  the 
end  I  propose  to  myself  in  the  work,  is  a  knowledge  of  the 
soul  ;  since  this  knowledge  will  constitute  the  crown  of  my 
studies.  This,  then,  my  labors  intend,  and  thither  they  aim. 
...  In  order,  therefore,  to  follow  up  the  investigation, 
and  to  solve  the  difficulty,  I  have  chosen  to  approach  by  the 
analytic  way  ;  and  I  think  I  am  the  first  who  has  taken  this 
course  professedly. 

'  To  accomplish  this  grand  end  I  enter  the  circus,  designing 
to  consider  and  examine  thoroughly  the  whole  world  or 
microcosm  which  the  soul  inhabits ;  for  I  think  it  is  vain  to 
seek  her  anywhere  but  in  her  own  kingdom.     .     .     . 

'  When  my  task  is  accomplished,  I  am  then  admitted  by 
common  consent  to  the  soul,  who,  sitting  like  a  queen  in  her 
throne  of  state,  the  body,  dispenses  laws,  and  governs  all 
things  by  her  good  pleasure,  but  yet  by  order  and  by  truth. 
This  will  be  the  crown  of  my  toils,  when  I  shall  have 
completed  my  course  in  this  most  spacious  arena.  But  in 
olden  time,  before  any  racer  could  merit  the  crown,  he  was 
commanded  to  run  seven  times  round  the  goal,  which  also  I 
have  determined  here  to  do.     .     ,     . 

'  I  am,  therefore,  resolved  to  allow  myself  no  respite,  until 
I  have  run  through  the  whole  field  to  the  very  goal,  or  until 
I  have  traversed  the  universal  animal  kingdom  to  the  soul. 
Thus  I  hope,  that  by  bending  my  course  inwards  continually, 
I  shall  open  all  the  doors  that  lead  to  her,  and  at  length  con- 
temjplate  the  soul  itself:  hj  the  divine  pei-mission,* 


swedenborg's  science. 


109 


''One  of  his  MS.*  again  places  these  designs  in  a  clear 
lio-ht.    '  I  have  gone  through  this  anatomy,*  says  he,  '  with  the 
single  end  of  investigating  the  soul.     It  will  be  a  satisfaction 
to  me  if  my  labors  be  of  any  use  to  the  anatomical  and  med- 
ical world,  but  a  still  greater  satisfaction  if  I  afford  any  light 
towards  the  investigation  of  the  soul.'     The  whole  course  of 
the  sciences,  he  observes,  has  aimed  at  this  effect.     '  The 
learned  world  has  striven  hither  without  any  exception  ;  for 
what  else  has  it  attempted,  than  the  ability  to  speak  from 
general   principles,    and   to    act    synthetically   on  the   lower 
sphere ;  such,  however,  is  angelic  perfection,  such  is  heavenly 
science  ;    such  also  was   the  first  natural  science,  and  such 
ambition  is,  therefore,  innate  in  ourselves  ;  thus  we  too  strain 
towards  the  integrity  of  our  first  parent,  who  concluded  from 
principles  to  all  effects,  and  not  only  saw  universal  nature- 
beneath  him,  but  commanded  its  subject  spheres.     All  science 
by  this  account  is  the  way  back  to  a  divine  magic  and  a  spirit- 
ual   seership.      Hence,'   he    adds,   'our    mighty   interest    in 
attaining  to  the  principles  of  truth.'    He  concludes  by  avowing 
that  '  he  knows  he  shall  have  the  reader's  ear,  if  the  latter  be 
only  persuaded  that  his  end  is  God's  glory  and  public  good, 
and  not  his  own  gain  and  praise.' 

"  His  object,  then,  was  to  open  a  new  way  through  natural 
knowledge  to  religious  faith,  and  to  transfer  to  Christianity  the 
title-deeds  of  the  sciences." 

To  the  Two  Parts  of  the  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom^ 
the  contents  of  which  have  been  noticed  above.  Dr.  Wilkinson 
has  added  a  third,  left  in  manuscript  by  our  Author.  This 
part  has  not  yet  been  translated  into  English,  but  we  expect  to 
embody  a  translation  of  it  in  a  future  American  edition  of 
the  author's  Complete  Works.  This  part  treats  principally 
De  Fihra—oi'  the  Human  Fibre.  "  A  title  at  which,"  Dr. 
Wilkinson  says,  '•  the  physiologist  may  possibly  smile, 
though  the  unlearned  reader  will  know  better ;  for  is  it  not 
given    in   common   language,   that   there   is  a-  lax  fibre,  an 


♦  "  Published  by  Dr.  Tafel  as  the  Seventh  Tart  of  The  Animal 

Kingdom'* 

10 


no 


SWEDENBORG*S   SCIENCE. 


irritdbh  fibre,  a  firm  fihre,  and  so  forth,  lying   at  the  basis 
of  particular   temperaments   and    constitutions  ? "     He   then 
proceeds  to  give  us  an  idea  of  the  contents  of  the  volume. 
"  This  Third  Part  of  the  Economy,*'  he  says,  "  expounds  the 
various  manners  in  which  the  beams  and  timbers  of  the  body 
are  laid  ;  specifically  the  construction  of  the  frame ;  somewhat 
as  the  Principia  unfolds   the   elementary  construction  of  the 
universe.     It  also  considers  the  different  kinds  of  fibres ;  the 
form  of  their  fluxion,  and  the  Doctrine  of  Forms  generally ; 
and  lastly,  in  a  most  masterly  style,  nay,  with  a  power   of 
observation  and  analysis  new  in  medicine,  the  Diseases  of  the 
Fibres.     In  the  weightiness  of  its  truths,  in  sustained  order 
of  exposition,  in  felicity  of  phrase,  and   in   finish  and  com- 
pleteness, it  is  not  surpassed  by  any  scientific  work  that  the 
author  published  :  moreover,  it  contains  so  much  that  is  pecu- 
liar, as  to  form  an  indispensable  addition  to  his  other  volumes." 
Connected  with  the  same  period  of  Swedenborg's  life  as  the 
Economy,  is  another  volume  of  MSS.,  edited  by  Dr.  Wilkinson, 
both  in  Latin  and  English,  under  the  title  of  "  Posthumous 
Tracts"  the  Latin  title   being,  "  Opuscula  quaedam  Argumenti 
PMlosophici" — Tiiese  tracts  are  for  the  most  part  condensed 
statements  of  the  subjects  and  arguments  of  the  larger  works, 
to  the  study  of  which  they  furnish  good  introductions.     Another 
manuscript  which  belongs  to  the  same  series  with  the  Economy, 
and  is  mentioned  in  the  Tliird  Part  of  that  work  as  the  Part 
on  Correspondences  (n.  378),  is  the  •'  Meroglyphic  Key,''  which 
is  likewise  edited  in  the  original  language,  and  translated  into 
English  by  Dr.  Wilkinson.     This  tract  is  an  attempt  to  eli- 
minate a  natural  doctrine  of  correspondences,  and  to  show  its 
application  by  examples. 

After  taking  a  survey  of  all  the  works  belonging  to  tliis 
phase  of  Swedenborg's  philosophical  and  scientific  life.  Dr. 
Wilkinson  speaks  of  the  execution  of  the  ''  Animal  Kingdom  " 
in  the  following  terms  : — 

"  This,  the  last  produced,  is  the  noblest  of  Swedenboro-'s 
works  on  the  human  frame.  The  first  two  Parts  of  this  trea- 
tise appeared  in  the  author's  55th,  the  Third  Part  in  his  57th 
year.  There  is  in  it  the  clearness  of  the  faultless  logician ; 
the  utmost  severity  of  the  inductive  reasoner ;  the  order  of  the 


swedenborg's  science. 


Ill 


consummate  philosophical  architect ;  the  beauty,  freedom  and 
universal  cordiality  of  the  mighty  poet ;  the  strength  of  the 
aiant,  the  playfulness  of  a  child.  Never  was  the  path  of  science 
so  aspiring,  or  strewn  with  such  lovely  and  legitimate  flowers, 
as  in  these  astonishing  volumes.  But  praise  is  a  needless 
tribute  to  their  goodness :  they  point  only  to  applications  and 
works,  and  beseech  us  not  to  stand  long  in  the  stupefiiction  of 
amazement,  but  to  gather  up  our  energies  and  summon  our 
understanding  for  whatever  the  arts  and  sciences  have  yet  to 
contribute  to  the  true  advancement  of  our  race.  Those  only 
follow  their  spirit,  who  are  actively  endeavoring  to  extend 
their  principles  in  new  fields,  unexplored  even  by  Swedenborg. 

"  These  are  among  the  great  works  which  revolutionize  our 
consciousness,  and  engender  new  wants,  and  a  new  mind,  in 
the  human  soul.  And  yet  it  is  surprising  how  little  Sweden- 
borg  was  controversial  or  directly  critical :  with  the  exception 
of  his  Fragment  on  Leibnitz,  he  scarcely  wages  formal  battle 
with  another  writer.  Neither  scolding  science  for  its  servility, 
nor  metaphysical  philosophy  for  its  artful  obscurations,  he  sup- 
plies elevated  truths  on  the  stage  of  his  own  mind,  and  leaves 
them  to  gain  their  prevalence  without  a  syllable  of  literary 
recommendation.  Verily  a  safe  and  great,  yea,  and  the  only 
course,  for  these  principles  inhabit  a  region  where  they  have 
no  opponents  ;  nay,  where  the  old  falsities  are  clean  out  of  their 
senses,  and,  without  being  aware  of  the  consequences  of  the 
admission,  confess  to  nothing  at  all" -^Popiilar  Sketch,  etc. 
Dr.  Wilkinson  continues  in  his  Life  of  Swedenborg  :—■ 

"  Swedenborg's  observations  and  fticts  are  as  superior  to  the 
ordinary  foundations,  as  his  method  is  better  than  the  procedures 
which  are  still  in  vogue.  His  power  of  remark  is  more  phys- 
iognomical  than  in  any  previous  writer  with  whom  we  are 
acquainted.  Other  collectors  of  facts  rushed  at  once  into  dis- 
section and  violence,  and  broke  through  the  speaking  face  of 
things  in  their  impatience.  He,  on  the  other  hand,  proceeded 
cautiously  and  tenderly,  and  only  cut  the  skin  when  he  had 
exhausted  its  looks  and  expressions,  conversing  first  with  the 
lace,  then  with  other  parts  of  the  surface,  and  at  last  with  the 
inner  inexpressive  parts,  the  poor  dumb  creatures,  which  were 
the  sole  company  of  the  anatomists.     He  was  the  most  grandly 


112 


SWEDENBORG*S   SCIENCE. 


superficial  writer  who  had  then  arisen, — a  rare  qualification 
in  its  good  sense,  and  which  gives  the  benefit  of  travel  to  the 
sciences,  enabling  them  to  take  liberal  views  of  their  materials  ; 
a  qualification,  moreover,  which  is  the  preparative  for  depth, 
for  the  whole  surface  alone  leads  us  to  the  centre,  and  when 
complete  is  itself  an  apparent  sphere,  the  most  perfect  of  sci- 
entific  forms.  Accordingly,  when  Swedenborg  goes  upwards 
or  inwards,  he  is  guided  to  the  sun,  or  the  core,  by  myriads 
of  rays  from  the  translucent  skin,  and  ubiquitous  fingers  invite 
and  beckon  him  into  tlie  depths.  Such  is  nature's  privilege 
for  those  who  beseech  her  permissions,  and  read  the  wishes  of 
her  broader  lineaments. 

"  In  illustration  of  these  remarks  we  have  only  space  to 
allude  to  one  fact  and  doctrine  made  use  of  by  our  author  in 
the  foregoing  works,  but  that  one  is  of  the  utmost  value  both 
in  his  system  and  history  ;  we  mean  his  doctrine  of  respira- 
tion. Let  any  reader  think  for  a  moment  of  what  he  expe- 
riences when  he  breathes,  and  attend  to  the  act.  He  will  find 
that  his  whole  frame  heaves  and  subsides  at  the  time ;  face, 
chest,  stomach,  and  limbs  are  all  actuated  by  liis  respiration. 
His  sense  is,  that  not  only  his  lungs  but  liis  entire  body  breathes. 
Here  is  a  large  surface  of  fact ;  the  foundation-doctrine  of  any 
doctrine  of  respiration.  The  most  unlearned  experience  con- 
tains it  as  well  as  the  most  learned,  and  often  much  more 
vividly,  for  learning  sometimes  hinders  the  breath  ;  the  plethora 
of  science  and  philosophy  confines  the  heaving  to  the  chest 
alone,  and  the  learned  puff  and  pant.  Now  mark  what 
Swedenborg  elicited  from  this  fact,  because  he  accepted  it  as  a 
material  for  science.  If  the  whole  man  breathes  or  heaves, 
so  also  do  the  organs  which  he  contains,  for  they  are  neces- 
sarily drawn  outwards  by  the  rising  of  the  surface  ;  therefore 
tliey  all  breathe.  What  do  they  breathe  ?  Two  elements  are 
omnipresent  in  them,  the  blood-vessels  and  the  nerves,  the  one 
giving  them  pabulum,  the  other  life.  They  draw  then  into 
themselves  blood,  and  life  or  nervous  spirit.  Each  does  this 
according  to  its  own  form  ;  each,  therefore,  has  a  free  individ- 
uality like  the  whole  man  ;  each  takes  its  food,  the  blood,  when 
it  chooses  ;  each  wills  into  itself  the  life  according  to  its  desires. 
The  man  is  made  up  of  manlike  parts  j  his  freedom  is  an 


swedenborg's  science. 


113 


aggregate  of  a  host  of  atomic,  organical  freedoms.  The  heart 
docs  not  cram  them  with  its  blood,  but  each,  like  the  man 
himself,  takes  what  it  thinks  right ;  the  brain  and  nerves  do 
not  force  upon  them  a  heterogeneous  life,  but  each  kindles  itself 
with  appropriate  life,  according  to  what  it  already  has,  and 
what  it  wants  to  have.  There  is  character  and  individuality 
in  every  molecule  ;  and  the  mind  is  properly  built  upon  facul- 
ties analogous  to  its  own,  conferred  upon  material  organs.  It 
handles  nature  by  the  willing  correspondence  of  nature  in  this 
high  machine,  with  its  own  essential  attributes.  The  body  is 
a  mind  and  soul  of  flesh. 

"  But  furthermore,  thought  commences  and  corresponds  with 
respiration.  The  reader  has  before  attended  to  the  presence 
of  the  heaving  over  the  body ;  now  let  him  feel  his  thoughts^ 
and  he  will  see  that  they,  too,  heave  with  the  mass.  When  he 
entertains  a  long  thought,  he  draws  a  long  breath ;  when  he 
thinks  quickly,  his  breath  vibrates  with  rapid  alternations ; 
when  the  tempest  of  anger  shakes  his  mind,  his  breath  is 
tumultuous ;  when  his  soul  is  deep  and  tranquil,  so  his  respira- 
tion ;  when  success  inflates  him,  his  lungs  are  tumid  as  his  con- 
ceits. Let  him  make  a  trial  of  the  contrary :  let  him  endeavor 
to  think  in  long  stretches  at  the  same  time  that  he  breathes  in 
fits,  and  he  will  find  that  it  is  impossible  ;  that  in  this  case  the 
chopping  lungs  will  needs  mince  his  thoughts.  Now  the  mind 
dwells  in  the  brain,  and  it  is  the  brain,  therefore,  which  shares 
the  varying  fortunes  of  the  breathing.  It  is  strange  that  this 
correspondence  between  the  states  of  the  brain  or  mind  and 
the  lungs  has  not  been  admitted  in  science,  for  it  holds  in  every 
case,  in  every  moment.  In  truth  it  is  so  unfailing,  and  so 
near  to  the  centre  of  sense,  that  this  has  made  it  difficult  to 
regard  it  as  an  object ;  for  if  you  only  try  to  think  upon  the 
breathing,  in  consequence  of  the  fixation  of  thought  you  stop 
the  breath  that  very  moment,  and  only  re-commence  it  when 
the  thought  can  no  longer  hold,  that  is  to  say,  when  the  brain 
has  need  to  expire.  Now  Swedenborg,  with  amazing  obser- 
vation and  sagacity,  has  made  a  regular  study  of  this  ratio 
between  the  respiration  and  the  thoughts  and  emotions ;  he 
shows  in  detail  that  the  two  correspond  exactly,  and  moreover 
that  their  correspondence  is  one  of  the  long-sought  links  between 

10* 


114 


swedenborg's  science. 


the  soul  and  the  body,  whereby  every  thought  is  represented 
and  carried  out  momentaneously  in  the  expanse  of  the  human 
frame,  which  it  penetrates  by  vicegerent  motions  or  states. 
Thus,  if  the  mind  is  tranquil,  the  body  is  similarly  tranquil, 
and  the  two  are  as  one,  that  is  to  say,  united ;  if  the  mind  is 
perturbed,  the  body  is  likewise  so  in  the  most  exact  similitude ; 
if  the  mind  loves  what  is  high,  the  body  looks  to  it  and  aspires 
to  reach  it ;  and  while  the  two  work  for  each  other,  that  is  to 
say,  so  long  as  health  sufficient  lasts,  there  must  be  connection 
between  them,  or  the  all-knowing  soul  would  not  profit  by  its 
own  tool,  its  very  double  in  the  world.  It  is  difficult  to  give 
a  more  plain  or  excellent  reason  of  the  tie  between  the  body 
and  the  souK  than  that  the  latter  finds  the  body  absolutely  to 
its  mind  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  living  body  clings  to 
the  soul,  because  it  wants  a  friendly  superior  life  to  infuse  and 
direct  its  life 

"  Of  Swedenborg's  contributions  to  science,  w^e  have  recorded 
the  above  as  among  the  most  valuable,  and  as  incalculable  in 
its  results  both  upon  thought  and  practice.  In  stating,  how- 
ever, any  one  point  as  remarkable  in  such  a  genius,  we  are  in 
danger  of  having  it  understood  that  his  claims  in  this  respect 
can  be  enumerated  by  any  critic  or  biographer.  On  the  con- 
trary, we  should  have  to  write  a  volume  were  we  to  devote 
but  a  few  lines  to  each  detail  of  his  excessive  fruitfulness. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  there  is  no  inquirer  into  the  human  body, 
either  for  the  purposes  of  medical  or  general  intelligence,  above 
all,  there  is  no  philosophical  anatomist,  who  has  done  justice 
to  himself,  unless  he  has  humbly  read  and  studied — not  turned 
over  and  conceitedly  dismissed  —  the  Economy  and  Animal 
Kingdom  of  Swedenborg.  The  works,  of  course,  are  past 
as  records  of  anatomical  facts,  but  in  general  facts  that  are 
bigger  than  anatomy,  they  have  not  been  excelled,  and  none 
but  a  mean  pride  of  science,  or  an  inaptitude  for  high  reasons, 
would  deter  the  inquirer  from  the  light  he  may  here  acquire, 
in  spite  of  meeting  a  few  obsolete  notions,  or  a  few  hundreds 
of  incomplete  experiments. 

•'  The  reception  of  Swedenborg's  natural  philosophy  by  the 
world  furnishes  a  negative  event  of  some  interest  in  his 
biography.     So  long  as  he  confined  himself  to  the  practical 


swedenborg's  science. 


115 


sphere,  his  treatises  met  with  a  fair  share  of  approval,  both 
in  Iiis  own  country  and  throughout  Europe  ;  but  the  moment 
his  own  genius  appeared,  it  consigned  him,  as  we  said  at  the 
outset,  to  temporary  oblivion — a  goal  at  which  he  arrived  after 
passing  through  some  preliminary  opprobrium.  The  Trans- 
actions  of  the  Learned,  Q  Acta  Eruditorum')  published  at 
Leipsic,  was  not  slow  to  discover  his  uncommon  qualities,  or 
to  denounce  them.  In  February,  1722,  the  reviewer  said  of 
his  Chemical  Specimens,  '  The  author  has  displayed  great 
abilities  and  equal  industry  ;  but  how  far  he  has  followed  truth 
in  his  theories,  let  others  decide.'  In  1735,  in  reviewing  his 
Outlines  of  the  Infinite,  the  same  journal  charged  him  with 
materialism.  And  in  1747,  it  gave  a  derisive  notice  of  his 
Animal  Kingdom,  ending  with  the  significant  words:  'So 
much  for  Swedenborgian  dreams.' 

"  In  the  same  year  as  the  third  part  of  the  Animal  Kingdom, 
i.e.,  in  1745,  Swedenborg  published  in  London  another  work 
in  two  parts.  On  the  Worship  and  Love  of  God,     This  work 
may  be  regarded  as  an  attempted  bridge  from  philosophy  to 
theology  ;  an  arch  thrown  over  from  the  side  of  nature  towards 
the  unseen  shore  of  the  land  of  life.     As  it  is  to  this  extent  a 
link,  so  it  has  some  of  the  ambiguity  which  attaches  to  traus- 
it.ional  things,   and  accordingly  by  those  who  judge  it  from 
either  side,  may  be  misunderstood.     For  my  part  I  see  in  its 
exuberant  lines  no  want  of  clear  truth,  but  simply  the  joy  and 
recreation  of  one  goal  attained ;  the  harvest  home  of  a  scien- 
tific cycle  ;  the  euthanasia  of  a  noble  intellect  peacefully  sink- 
ing back  into  its  own  spiritual  country  ;  the  Pentecost  thence 
of  new  tongues  as  of  fire,  in  which  every  man  is  addressed  in 
his  own  language  wherein  he  was  born,— the  language  not  of 
words,  but  of  things.     For  here  has  science  become  art,  and  is 
identified  with  nature  in  the  very  middle  and  thickest  of  her 
beauty.     Here   the   forgotten  lore   of  antiquity  begins  to  be 
restored,  and  principles  ratified  into  truths  take  body  in  a 
mythological  narrative,  the  first  creation  of  the  kind  since  the 
dawn  of  the  scientific  ages.     Here  the  doctrine  of  Correspon- 
dences commences   to  re-assert   its   sublime   prerogative,   of 
bearing  to  man  the  teeming  spirit  of  heaven  in  the  cups  of 
nature.      This,  I  think,  accounts  for  the  singularity  of  the 


116 


swedenborg's  science. 


work  ;  for  its  standing  in  a  manner  by  itself  among  the  author's 
writings.  For  the  rest,  if  it  be  still  reckoned  scientific  or 
philosophical,  we  must  nevertheless  say,  that  it  is  an  offering 
up  of  both  science  and  philosophy  upon  the  altar  of  religion. 
Of  its  merits  in  this  respect  there  can,  I  imagine,  be  but  one 
opinion.  Whatever  of  admiration  we  have  felt  for  Sweden- 
borg's  former  efforts,  only  increases  as  we  enter  the  interior  of 
this  august  natural  temple.  A  new  wealth  of  principles,  a 
radiant,  even  power  such  as  peace  alone  can  communicate,  a 
discourse  of  order  persuasively  convincing,  an  affecting  and 
substantial  beauty  more  deep  than  poetry,  a  luxuriance  of  orna- 
ment instinct  with  the  life  of  the  subject ;  intellect,  imagination, 
fancy,  unitedly  awake  in  a  lovely  vision  of  primeval  times ; 
wisdom,  too,  making  all  things  human  :  such  is  an  imperfect 
enumeration  of  the  qualities  which  enter  into  this  ripe  fruit  of 
the  native  genius  of  Swedenborg.  Whether  in  fulness  or 
loftiness,  I  know  of  nothing  similar  to  it — of  nothing  second 
to  it — in  mere  human  literature." — Popular  Sketch,  etc. 

"  The  first  portion  of  the  work,  and  for  the  scientific  philo- 
sopher probably  its  finest  portion,  represents  the  origin  and 
progression  of  this  univferse  from  the  sun,  and  specifically  the 
origin  of  our  own  planet,  with  the  reign  of  the  general  spring, 
and  the  consequent  development  of  the  first  mineral,  vegetable 
and  animal  kingdoms,  one  from  another  in  succession ;  for 
nature  at  the  beginning  was  big  with  the  principles  of  all  things, 
and  the  earth  was  near  to  its  parent  sun,  with  as  yet  no 
atmosphere  but  the  serene,  supernal  ether.  Next  we  are  led 
to  the  human  body,  wrought  by  the  infinite  in  the  ovum  fur- 
nished by  the  Tree  of  Life,  in  the  innermost  focus  of  the 
spring,  and  the  paradise  of  Paradise :  creation  rising  thus  in  a 
glorious  pile,  centre  above  centre.  Thereafter  Ave  have  the 
infancy  and  growth  of  the  mind  of  the  first-born  in  the  state 
of  integrity  and  innocence  ;  with  its  elevation  into  three  new 
kingdoms.  Then  there  is  the  birth  of  Eve,  and  the  manner 
of  it,  and  her  education  by  ministering  spirits,  and  her  betrothal 
and  marriage  to  Adam.  And '  this,'  as  Swedenborg  concludes, 
*  was  the  sixth  scene  on  the  world's  stage.'  And  the  seventh 
was  yet  to  come." 

On  taking  a  general  view  of  Swedenborg's  scientific  labors, 


swedenborg's  science. 


117 


and  comparing  them  with  the  plan  which  he  had  laid  out  for 
himself  in  the  beginning.  Dr.  Wilkinson  says  :  "  Swedenborg 
has  fulfilled,  it  is  true,  but  a  small  portion  of  his  plan,  being 
led  to  something  better  than  the  direct  reconstruction  of  the 
sciences ;  but  still  it  is  satisfactory  to  know,  that  his  manu- 
scripts, when  we  can  publish  them,  will  give  an  outline  of  his 
views  on  all  the  subjects  of  which  he  intended  to  treat.  Thus 
there  is,  as  before  noticed,  a  continuation  of  the  Chemical 
Specimens ;  there  is  also  a  continuation  of  the  Animal  King- 
dom,  a  treatise  On  the  Brain,  an  important  manuscript  0?* 
Generation,  [since  published  in  Latin  by  Dr.  Tafel,  and  trans- 
lated into  English  by  Dr.  Wilkinson,]  a  treatise  On  the  Human 
Mind,  namely,  the  five  senses,  and  the  various  faculties,  both 
concrete  and  abstract,  the  human  loves  and  passions,  and 
whatever  follows  therefrom  [since  published  in  Latin  by  Dr. 
Tafel,  as  Vols.  IV.  and  VII.  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,  but  not 
yet  translated  into  English]." 

A  list  of  the  unpublished  manuscripts  of  Swedenborg, 
treating  on  scientific  subjects,  will  be  given  in  the  last  chapter 
of  our  volume. 


74.  Some  pertinent  remarks  on  Swedenborg's  treatment 
of  facts  are  contained  in  the  "  New  Church  Advocate,**  Vol. 
IL,  pp.  236,  etc. 

"  In  judging  of  the  philosophical  facts  of  Swedenborg,  we 
must  not  rest  in  the  fact  that  he  was  not  acquainted  with  the 
researches  of  Faraday,  or  Davy,  or  Berzelius  or  Liebig ; 
but  we  must  first  ask  ourselves  what  his  purpose  and  direction 
was,  then  inquire  whether  the  experimental  knowledge  of  his 
time  was  sufficient  for  him  in  this  respect ;  and  last  of  all  we 
may  endeavor  to  find  out  whether  particular  facts  of  recent 
discovery  will  supply  corroborations  of  his  principles. 

"  At  first,  indeed,  .  .  .  it  is  too  likely  that  not  much 
direct  relation  will  be  found  to  exist  between  Swedenborg's 
philosophy  and  the  facts  of  the  day.  But  in  the  mean  time 
let  us  hold  that  philosophy  with  an  unrelaxing  grasp.  We 
have  this  attestation  of  its  truth — that  it  is  worthy  of  God  and 
worthy  of  man :  .  .  .  that  there  are  no  principles  to 
oppose  it,  and  no  general  facts:   that  in  God's  works   *the 


118 


swedenborg's  science. 


swedenborg's  science. 


119 


highest  reason  is  always  the  truest/  and  that  the  reasoa  given 
in  Swedenborg's  writings  is  the  highest  yet  declai'ed  :  ihat  the 
contemplation  of  it  tends  to  make  man  wiser  and  i}etter,  and 
to  make  his  'veneration  of  the  Deity  co-extensive  with  his 
wisdom,  and  as  constant  as  the  operation  of  his  seases.'  *  In 
fact,  there  is  something  of  the  same  reason  to  hold  to  the 
philosophy  of  Swedenborg,  even  although  it  appear  to  lie  open 
to  the  small  fire  of  science,  as  there  is  to  hold  to  Christianity 
in  opposition  to  the  atheists  and  deists,  even  although  the  letter 
of  Scripture  involve  a  host  of  petty  difficulties  a'ud  seeming 
contrarieties  which  no  critic  has  yet  been  able  to  solve.  Le't 
us  not  throw  away  a  mighty  good,  which  is  sound  to  tlie  heart's 
core,  because  we  do  not  find  in  it  some  little  detail  or  details, 
which  science  with  her  microscopic  eyes  has  concluded  to  be 
essentials.  These  may  come  afterwards,  if  they  are  wanted ; 
or  on  the  other  hand,  we  may  attain  to  more  compreliensive 
states,  and  find  the  largeness  of  things  more  honest  and  sig- 
nificative than  the  details:  we  may  perchance  find  all  we 
want  in  the  broad  streets  of  creation. 

"  What  we  desire  to  advance  is  this :  that  if  a  priLciple, 
whether  natural,  moral  or  spiritual,  approve  itself  to  all  the 
faculties  of  the  mind,  excepting  the  senses,  .  .  .  then,  in 
despite  of  the  senses,  or  faih'ng  their  corroboration,  such  prin- 
ciple must  still  be  maintained ;  and  must  bide  its  time,  aad  by 
incessant  rational  efforts  on  our  part,  it  must  be  used  to  convert 
the  inverted  senses,  and  their  sphere  to  its  side.  T!ie  senses, 
therefore,  may  be  made  use  of  to  confirm  it ;  but  they  are  not 
to  be  allowed  an  active  power  in  the  case  ;  nor  are  they  to 
raise  up  serpent  heads  against  that  which  is  proved  to  be  good 
and  true  in  a  better  region  than  theirs. 

"  What  then  is  to  become  oi  facts  ?  Are  we  prepared  to 
revert  to  those  times  when  experience,  such  as  we  uow  have 


*  We  may  add  here  as  another  reason  the  following  statement  of 
Prof,  von  Gorres  :  "There  nowhere  appears  in  the  writin- of  Swe- 
denborg a  self-destroying  contradiction,  notliing  abrupt,  digljinted  or 
unconnected,  or  arbitary,  or  illogical,  .  .  .  but  every th mi' that  he 
wntes  IS  so  connected  and  uninterrupted,  as  to  present  'e  perfect 
whole." 


it,  was  not  in  beiiia,  and  the  observations  of  science  were 
almost  coincident  with  those  of  daily  life  ;  when  the  face  of 
nature  revealed  nearly  all  that  was  known  of  her,  and  the 
interiors  of  things  had  been  scarcely  disturbed  by  the  rudely 
analytic  hand  of  man  ?  This  is  clearly  impossible.  The 
world  cannot  undo  wiiat  it  has  already  done,  nor  forget  what 
it  knows.  Yet  il  tlie  truth  must  be  told,  facts  have  yet  to 
obtain  their  real  place,  and  to  be  estimated  at  their  proper 
value.  They  have  yet  to  be  sorted  into  direct,  and  remote  or 
oblique  facts.*  At  present,  science  mingles  all  together  in  one 
confused  heap.     Let  us  dwell  a  little  longer  upon  this  division. 

"  First,  however,  we  will  venture  to  affirm,  that  there  were 
multitudes  of  facts  known  in  Swedenborg's  day,  and  known 
moreover  to  Swedenborg  himself,  which  did  not  find  any  direct 
place  in  the  series  of  his  reasonings.  In  this  respect  the  present 
state  of  science  does  not  differ,  in  essence,  from  the  state  of 
science  in  his  time ;  but  only  in  magnitude  and  multitude. 
There  is  no  principle  involved  in  the  case  as  affecting  modern 
science  ;  but  only  the  circumstance,  that  there  are  many  more 
facts  now  which  Swedenborg  would  not  have  thought  it  worth 
his  while  to  use,  than  when  he  wrote  his  Principia,  We  indeed 
admit  fully  that  there  are  also  many  which  would  have  fur- 
nished him  with  ready  corroborations ;  but  on  this  it  is  not 
our  intention  to  dwell  in  this  review. 

"  To  return  to  Facts,  they  occupy  in  the  scientific  world 
something  like  the  same  place  which  Property  occupies  in  our 
Houses  of  Parliament :  they  are  the  only  thing,  or  nearly  the 
only  thing,  which  is  legislated  for,  '  protected,'  and  declared  to 
have  'rights*  in  the  human  mind.  They  are  in  truth  'pro- 
tected *  at  the  expense  of  our  brains Now   we 

think  the  brains  require  the   protection,  at  least  in  this  case. 
'  Is  not  life  more  than  meat,  and  the  body  than  raiment  ?  * 

"  We  shall  now  attempt  to  say  a  few  things  respecting  the 


*  The  learned  writer  of  the  above  article  will  allow  us  to  leave  out 
for  the  present  his  allusion  to  a  third  kind  of  facts — "  contrarious  or 
inverse  facts  " — which  only  complicate  the  subject,  and  to  call  atten- 
tion only  to  those  two  kinds  of  facts  which  Swedenborg  himself  speci- 
fies in  the  extract  quoted  from  him  below  by  the  writer. 


120 


swedenborg's  science. 


division   among   facts.      It  is  stated  by  Swedenborg  in  the 
Prindpia,  where  he  treats  of  the  '  Means  conducing  to  True 
Philosophy,*  that  '  in  order  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  natural 
principles, — in  order  to  conceive  the  theory  of  nature, — there 
is  no  occasion   for  such  an   infinite   variety  of  phenomena  as 
some   persons  deem  necessary :  that  we  need  only  the  more 
important,  or  such  as  bear  directly  and  proximately  upon  the 
point ;  and  that  we  do  not  need  those  that  diverge  obliquely 
and  remotely  from  the  series  and  powers  of  the  world  :  that 
the  latter  as  being  remote  and  merely  collateral,  may  he  safely 
laid  aside  as  not  essential ;  and  that  they  would  rather  tend  to 
divert  the  mind  from  the  object,  than  to  lead  it  onward  in  the 
great  high  road  of  its  investigation.'     (Part  i.  chap.  i.  n.  1.) 
Now  this  at  once  shows  the  propriety  of  sifting  facts  into  two 
classes  ;  one   class  comprising  those  which   are  in  the  direct 
order  of  creation,     .     .     .     the  other  class  consisting  of  those 
which  are  oblique,  or  divergent  from  the  main  line.        .     . 

*'  If  this  view  be  correct,  what  are  we  to  think  of  the  indis- 
criminate love  of  natural  facts  ?     Is  it  a  love  of  truth,  or  does 
it  proceed   from  a  love  of  truth  ?     Must  we  not  regard  it  as 
the  case   of  compound   darkness  of  intellect,— of  a   state   in 
which  the  blindness  of  obscurity  is  combined  with  the  blindness 
of  error?     Must  we   not  counsel  our  brethren  and  the  world 
to  begin  in   science    the  work   of  separation,   preparatory  to 
throwing  aside  much  of  the  vast  heap  of  facts  which  is  now 
accumulated  ?     We  are  well  aware  that  this  will  be  startling 
advice.      The   miser    and    his    money-bags    are    not   easily 
parted,  even  though  it  be  plainly  proved  to  him  that  he  cannot 
use  his  possessions.     The  love  of  property  and  the  love  of  use 
are  distinct  things.     Within   the   last  half-century  the  world 
has  built  new  barns,  and  laid  up  goods  therein  for  many  years. 
It  has  said  :  '  Soul,  take  thine  ease  ;  facts  are  too  multitudinous 
for  any  theory  to  comprehend  them  :  happily  in  this  way  thou 
hast  gotten   rid  of  theory  and  spirituality ;  and  thy  sleep  may 
now  be  undisturbed  after  ages  of  restlessness  and  discomfort.' 
But  are  we  to  follow  this  spirit  ?       Are  we  to  countenance  the 
lazy  work  of  carrying  fresh  sand  and  pebbles  to  the  unbuilt 
mountain  of  tliem  which  exists  already  ?     Are  we  not,  on  the 
contrary,  to  be  architects  of  a  new  building ;  to  use  what  is 


swedenborg's  science. 


121 


available  in  the  old  and  new  materials  ;  and  without  reserve, 
and  without  a  superstitious  reverence  for  facts,  firmly  and 
resolutely  to  put  aside  whatever  is  unfit  for  our  purpose  ?  Thus 
philosophy,  under  the  auspices  of  religion,  will  raise  her  head, 
and  elevate  science  by  her  side,  and  the  human  understanding 
will  no  longer  be  dragged  like  a  slave  at  the  chariot-wheels 
of  circumstance. 

"  But  we  hear  it  whispered,  that  by  assuming  this  discre- 
tional power  over  facts,  we  run  the  danger  of  generating  new 
scholasticism  ;  that  we  go  away  from  nature,  and  betake  our- 
selves to  chopping  endless   and  fruitless  logic;  that  history 
presents  us  with  '  dark  ages  '  as  a  warning  against  this  course  ; 
and  that  if  we  follow  it,  we  shall  carry  back  knowledge  into 
cells  and  cloisters,  and  institute  a  new  race  of  Aquinases,  and 
other  most  subtle  doctors.     To  this  we  reply,  that  the  useless 
aspect  of  the  scholastics  was  not  due  to  the  circumstance  of  their 
using  their  intellects,  and  making  their  senses  subservient ;  it 
was  mainly  due  to  the  mistiness  of  their  intellects  themselves, 
and  to  their  having  no  true  principles  to  guide  them  in  the 
interpretation  of  nature,  or  the  Word.     They  could  not  instruct 
the  ignorant,  or  give  light   to  the  world  at  large,  because  they 
had  no  organic  ideas  in  their  own  heads.     Not  that  they  had 
too  many  ideas,  and  too  few  facts,  but  that  their  ideas,  having 
no  power  of  assimilation,  were  unable  to  take  shape  and  body 
in  the  ultimate  world.     Instead  of  being  as  souls  that  could 
realize  themselves  and  present  an  image  of  creative  order, 
they  were  like  puffs  of  wind  in  the  bag  of  ^olus,  blowing 
indeed  where  they  listed,  but  developing  no  good  and  no  beauty 
such  as  the  common  heart  or  eye  could  recognize  and  love. 
Therefore  they  could  neither  concentrate  nor  diffuse  knowl- 
edge, nor  build  their  house  upon  that  rock  of  ultimate  truths 
which  affords  the  mind  a  secure  position  amid  the  ceaseless 
contingency  and  change  of  things.     But  widely  different  from 
this  was  the  case  with  Swedenborg ;  as  it  will  also  be  with 
those  who  study  his  philosophical  and  scientific  doctrines  for 
the  sake  of  use.     To  them,  to  use  the  words  of  Carlyle,  '  this 
vague,  shoreless  universe  will  be  a  firm  city — a  dwelling  which 
they  know.' 

We  hope  we  have  now  emboldened  the  reader  to'  think, 
11 


(( 


122 


swedenborg's  science. 


that  if  natural  facts  are  to  have  votes  in  matters  affecting  high 
truths  and  principles,  yet  that  this  does  not  necessaril/app1y 
to  all  facts,  and  consequently  the  suffrage  is  not  universal  in 
this  sphere  ;  that  some  facts  are  without  present  qualification, 
being  dumb  and  insignificant ;  and  that  others  are  downright 
aliens  and  enemies,  and  must  not  vote,  because  they  mean  "no 
good  to  the  human  mind. 

"  This  is  no  uncomfortable  or  illiberal  doctrine,  but   one 
imperatively  necessary  for  self-preservation  and  sound  progress. 
If  Ave  are  always  to  be  undermining  our  buildings  in  order  to 
inspect  the  strength  of  their  foundations,  to  what  height  can 
we  carry  them,  or  with  what  safety  can  we  abide  within  their 
walls  ?     The  truth  is,  that  when  legitimately  acquired  general 
experience  confirms  a  principle,  it  is  as  if  a  law  had  been 
passed  after  solemn  debate  in  some  great  national  assembly; 
no  individual  can  thenceforth  successfully  question  it,  nor  can 
it  be  repealed  excepting  by  the  same  or  similar  power  to  that 
which  called  it  into  existence.     So  it  is  with  the  philosophical 
and  scientific  principles  of  Swedenborg.     The  learned  world, 
by  the  eflTorts  of  ages,  had  presented  him  with  a  certain  gen- 
eral experience  ;  this  he  accepted,  and  still  farther  generalized 
and  eliminated  it ;  and  when  it  was  thus  prepared,  he  was 
gifted  to  impregnate  it  with  true  principles  of  order,  and  so  it 
grew  into  an  organic  human  body.     The  body  thus   formed 
has  indeed  a  power  of  assimilation  ;  but  the  condition  is,  that 
the  food  shall  submit  to  the  body,  and  not  the  body  to  the 
food ;  and  that  whatever  is  useless,  or  becomes  so,  shall  be  put 
aside,  or  cast  into  the  drought." 


75.     "  What  is  the  ImpoH  of  the  Scientific  System  which 

Swedenborg  has  left  ?  " 

To    this    question    Dr.    Wilkinson  gives   the   followin<r 
answer : —  ° 

^  "  We  have  seen  that  this  system  arose  from  a  catholic  expe- 
rience and  observation,  and  carried  the  particular  sciences 
which  it  traversed,  beyond  the  limit  of  class-cultivation.  We 
have  seen  that  the  philosophic  miner  brought  forth  the  human 


SWEDENBORG*S   SCIENCE. 


123 


frame  from  the  colleges  of  medicine,  and  conferred  the  right  to 
know  it  upon  all  who  study  universal  knowledge.  We  have  also 
seen  that  he  incorporated  the  formulas  of  the  old  philosophy, 
making  them  no  longer  abstractions,  but  the  life  or  order 
of  these  sciences.  We  may  now  then  state  that  Swedenborg's 
philosophy  attains  its  summit  in  the  marriage  of  the  scholas- 
ticism and  common  sense,  with  the  sciences,  of  his  age ;  in 
the  consummation  of  which  marriage  his  especial  genius  was 
exerted  and  exhausted.  In  him  the  oldest  and  newest  spirit 
met  in  one  ;  reverence  and  innovation  were  evenly  mingled  ; 
nothing  ancient  was  superseded,  though  pressed  into  the  cur- 
rent service  of  the  century.  He  was  one  of  the  links  that 
connect  bygone  ages  with  to-day,  breathing  for  us  among  the 
lost  truths  of  the  past,  and  perpetuating  them  in  unnoticed 
forms  along  the  stream  of  the  future.  He  lived,  however, 
thoroughly  in  his  own  age,  and  was  far  before  his  contempo- 
raries, only  because  others  did  not,  or  could  not,  use  the  entire 
powers  of  its  sphere.  We  regard  him  therefore  as  an  honest 
representative  of  the  eighteenth  century.  He,  in  his  line,  gives 
us  the  best  estimate  of  the  all  which  any  man  could  do  in 
Europe  at  that  period." 

In  another  place  he  says  : — 

"  Briefly  to  sum  up  the  gain  which  we  derive  from  these 
books  of  Swedenborg,  we  may  say  that  mathematically  and 
'physically  they  are  to  human  anatomy,  what  the  modern 
astronomy  is  to  the  heavens  ;  they  rescue  it  from  the  condition 
of  a  mere  tableau^  in  which  there  is  no  order,  depth,  or  centre, 
and  contemplate  it  as  a  solid  microcosm,  in  which  corporeal 
principles,  causes  and  effects  succeed  each  other  in  real  order  ; 
wherein  force  and  motion  are  implied  and  supplied  for  the 
active  existence  of  the  body.     .     .     ."     Again, — 

"  To  sum  up  in  two  words  the  distinguishing  feature  of  all 
these  works,  it  may  be  said  to  consist  in  their  Wisdom  and 
Integrality.  By  their  wisdom  I  mean  the  attainment  of  prin- 
ciples in  nature  that  may  practically  benefit  the  human  mind, 
and  the  statement  of  which  is  with  reference  to  this  result. 
Their  integrality,  on  the  other  hand,  signifies  that  these  principles 
have  the  willing  support  of  all  the  sciences,  and  to  use  Lord 
Bacon's  words,  are  no  '  islands  cut  off  from  other  lands,  but 


124 


swedenborg's  science. 


continents  which  join  them;'  each  principle  being  a  common 
or  general  truth  subsisting  as  such  from  the  unanimous  suffrage 
of  nature.     But  permit  me  to  illustrate  this  by  an  example. 
Although  the  human  body  is  a  substance  by  itself,  yet  it  holds 
communication  with  the  entire  universe.     For  we  stand  with 
our  feet  upon  the  ground  ;  we  eat  the  fruits  of  the  earth  ;  we 
breathe  its  atmosphere  ;  we  live  in  its  auras ;  we  appropriate 
its  existence  and  meaning  with  our  senses  and  other  faculties. 
Now  as  the  body  in  this  wise  embraces  in  its  own  ends  the 
universe,  so  the  doctrine  of  the  body  must  in  the  same  manner 
comprise   the  doctrine  of  the  universe.     And   therefore    the 
integrality   of  these  writings,    on  this   head,   is   thus  .-—The 
doctrine  of  the  brain  is  confirmed  and  extended  by  the  doc- 
trine of  the  auras,  and  of  all  ivith  which  the  brain  is  connected. 
The  doctrine  of  the  lungs  comprehends  that  of  the  atmosphere, 
&c.  ;  the  doctrine  of  the  blood,  that  of  the  earth  ;  and  in  general 
the  entire  theory  of  organization  communes  with  the  entire 
theories  of  psychology  and  physics,  even  as  man  subsists  in  the 
world,  and  receives  and  gives  in  the  sphere  of  nature.     Thus, 
as  Swedenborg  says.  The  discernment  of  universal  connection 
and  continuity  amounts  to  the  discovery  of  truth. 
^  "  With  regard  to  the  intellectual  newness  of  these  works,  it 
lies  perhaps  in  the  just   embodiment  of  the   spiritual  in  the 
mechanical.     These  two  spheres,  or  this  world  and  the  higher 
world,  had  been,  till  Swedenborg  arose,   disjoined,  and  hostile 
to  each  other :  but  happily  he  has  commenced  a  reconciliation 
between  them,  and  the   mechanical  is  no  longer  low  or  dead, 
or  the  spiritual  void  and  intangible.     A  great  hope  this  for  all 
time.     For  the  mechanical  in  its   various  degrees   up  to  the 
spiritual-formal,  is  the  expression  of    all   means  and  causes— 
of  all  intellect— of  all  definite  knowledge— of  all  precise  ways 
of  action.     An  unmechanical  state   of  finite  existence  would 
exclude  the  operancy  of  the  Divine  Wisdom  and  Righteous- 
ness ;  an  unmechanized  faculty,  an  unclothed  mind,  in°man— 
and  metaphysics  has  been   such  a  faculty— would  look— and 
has   looked— upon    the   creature    as   non-existent,- upon   the 
Creator  as  a  nonentity  ;  while  as  for  action,  it  would  have  no 
body  to  execute  it,  no  distinct  mind  to  conceive  it,  no  will  but 
towards  waste  and  dispersion.     To  such  a  faculty  immortality 


SWEDENBORG*S   SCIENCE. 


125 


would  be  a  contradiction.  How  signal  then  is  the  Providence 
which  has  once  again  invested  us  with  understanding,  and 
pointed  out  in  these  writings  the  created  amity  between  spirit 
and  nature,  the  soul  and  the  body,  through  the  medium  of 
forms  '  accommodated  at  once  to  the  beginning  of  motion  and 
to  the  reception  of  life.' " 


VL 


IMPORTANCE  OF  SWEDENBORG'S  PHYSIOLOG- 
ICAL WORKS,  ESPECIALLY  FOR  THE  MEDICAL 
PROFESSION. 

76.  From  a  "Brief  Review  of  Swedenborg's  'Animal 
Kingdom/"  by  a  celebrated  Professor  of  Anatomy  at  one  of 
our  Universities,  in  the  Phrenological  Almanac^  or  Psycholog- 
ical Journal,  for  1844,  Glasgow,  we  extract  the  following : — 

'•  These  works  being  strictly  scientific,  have  of  course  noth- 
ing whatever  to  do  with  the  peculiar  theological  views  of  the 
author ;   and  we  trust  they  will  be  received  by  the  medical 
profession,  to  which  they  more  particularly  belong,  with  that 
favor  to  which  their  merits  may  justly  lay  claim.     They  may 
perhaps  be  viewed  as  the  commencement  of  that  revival  of 
old  medical  authors,  which  the  projected  publications  of  the 
Sydenham  Society  will  continue  and  complete*.    For  in  reality 
these  works  give  us  the  opinions  of  some  of  the  ancient  anat- 
omists, and  for  the  most  part  in  their  own  words — opinions 
founded  on  minute  research  and  accurate  observations,  the  old 
medical  philosophers   being  very   generally  allowed  to  have 
been   much   better  observers  than   the  moderns.     This  plan, 
upon   which   Swedenborg  formed    his   works  on   the    natural 
sciences,  is  perhaps  peculiar  to  himself.    There  is  no  doubt  he 
was  acquainted  with  anatomy  practically,  but  he  seems  to  have 
considered  that  the  celebrated  anatomists  who  had  gone  before 
him  were  better  authorities  than  himself.     Accordingly  in  the 
work  before  us  the  descriptions  of  the  organs  are  taken  verhatim 
from  the  works  of  Heister,  Malpighi,  Swammerdam,  Boerhaave, 
Wiuslow,  etc.,  etc.,  and  from  their  descriptions  he  deduces 
opinions    of  his    own,    which,    if  not    correct,   are    certainly 
ingenious,  and  indicate  powers  of  mind,  original,  acute,  and 
deeply  imbued  with  abstract  truths.     The  translator,  in  his 
preface,  states  that  the  '  merits  of  the  work  lie  principally  in  its 

(126) 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


127 


principles  and  doctrines,  and  only  secondary  in  its  details. 
The  facts  made  use  of  by  Swedenborg  were  of  course  the  facts 
of  his  own  day— the  facts  of  perhaps  the   most  illustrious 
anatomists  who  ever  lived— but  still  imperfect,  as  the  facts  of 
our  day  will  be  imperfect  in  the  year  1943.     Principles,  how- 
ever, are  immortal,  and  the  roll  of  centuries  serves  only  to 
confirm  and  establish  them.     They  have,  moreover,  a  power 
of  eliminating  and  throwing  off  spurious  facts,  when  such  facts 
have  served  a  provisional  end,  and  more  real  data  are  prepared 
to  take  their  places.    The  principles  of  Swedenborg,  the  trans- 
lator believes,  have  this  increasing  root  in  the  world,  and  this 
power  :  he  believes  that  they  are  more  true  now  to  the  rational 
inquirer  than  they  could  possibly  be  to  the  men  of  Sweden- 
borg's  own  day  ;— that  wherever  he  adopted  false  facts,  they 
furnished  a  worse  basis  for  his  system  than  the  more  solid 
materials  of  modern  discovery.' "—(Preface,  p.  8.) 

The  Professor  then  gives  an  extensive  review  of  the  contents 
of  the  volume,  a^d  continues  : — 

''Upon  the  whole,  we  have  derived  much  pleasure,  and  not 
a  little  profit,  from  the  perusal  of  tliis  volume.  We  shall  hail 
with  satisfoction  the  appearance  of  the  other  volumes,  when 
we  shall  be  more  at  home  in  reading  and  commenting  on  the 
author's  views  of  the  mortal  part  of  man  :  the  brain  and 
nervous  system,  with  his  moral  and  intellectual  faculties. 
Meantime  we  beg  to  close  this  article  by  quoting  a  few  sentences 
from  the  very  able  article  '  Swedenborg,'  in  the  Penny  Cydo- 
poedia,  in  which  are  summed  up,  in  a  very  succinct  manner, 
his  peculiar  views  concerning  the  human  body."— (This  extract 
constitutes  n.  70  of  the  present  volume.) 

77.  From  the  London  Forceps,  for  November,  1844. 
"This  (the  'Animal  Kingdom')  is  the  most  remarkable 
theory  of  the  human  body  that  has  ever  fallen  into  our  hands ; 
and  by  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  too  !  a  man  wliom  we  had  always 
been  taught  to  regard  as  either  a  fool,  a  madman,  or  an  impos- 
tor, or  perhaps  an  undefiuable  compound  of  all  three.  Wonders, 
it  seems,  never  will  cease,  and  therefore  it  were  better  hence- 
forth to  look  out  for  them,  and  accept  them  whenever  they 
present  themselves,  and  make  them  into  ordinary  things  in 


128 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


129 


that  way.  For  thereby  we  may  be  saved  from  making  won- 
derful asses  of  ourselves  and  our  craft,  for  enlightened  pos- 
terity to  laugh  at. 

"  To  return  to  our  book,  we  can  honestly  assure  our  readers 
(which  is  mere  than  would  be  safe  to  do  in  all  cases),  that  we 
have  carefully  read  through  both  volumes  of  it,  bulky  though 
they  be,  and  haie  gained  much  philosophical  insight  from  it 
into  the  chains  of  ends  and  causes  that  govern  in  the  human 
organism.  What  has  the  world  been  doing  for  the  past  century, 
to  let  this  great  system  slumber  on  the  shelf,  and  to  run  after 
a  host  of  little  bluebottles  of  hypotheses  which  were  never 
framed  to  live  for  more  than  a  short  part  of  a  single  season  ? 
It  is  clear  that  it  yet  '  knows  notliing  of  its  greatest  men.* 
The  fact  is,  it  has  been  making  money,  or  trying  to  make  it, 
and  grubbing  after  worthless  reputation,  unti?  it  has  lost  its 
eyesight  for  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  the  sun  that  is  shininf^ 
above  it. 

"  Emanuel  Swedenborg's  doctrine  is  altogether  the  widest 
thing  of  the  kind  which  medical  literature  affords,  and  cast 
into  an  artistical  shape  of  consummate  beauty.  Under  the 
rich  drapery  of  ornament  which  diversifies  his  pages,  there 
runs  a  framework  of  the  truest  reasoning.  The  book  is  a 
perfect  mine  of  principles,  far  exceeding  in  intellectual  wealth, 
and  surpassing  in  elevation,  the  finest  efforts  of  Lord  Bacon's 
genius.  It  treats  of  the  loftiest  subjects  without  abstruseness, 
being  all  ultimately  referable  to  the  common  sense  of  mankind. 
Unlike  the  German  transcendentalists,  this  gifted  Swede  fulfils 
both  the  requisites  of  the  true  philosopher;  he  is  one  'to 
whom  the  lowest  things  ascend,  and  the  highest  descend,  who 
is  the  equal  and  kindly  brother  of  all.'  There  is  no  trifling 
about  him,  but  he  sets  forth  his  opinions,  irrespective  of  con- 
troversy, whh  a  plainness  of  affirmation  which  cannot  be  mis- 
taken ;  and  in  such  close  and  direct  terms,  that  to  give  a  fldl 
iilea  of  his  system  in  other  words  would  require  that  we  lesser 
men  should  write  larger  volumes  than  his  own. 

''The  plan  of  the  work  is  this:  Swedenborg  first  gives 
extracts  from  the  greatest  anatomists  of  his  own  and  former 
times,  such  as  Malpighi,  Leuwenhoek,  Morgagni,  Swammer- 
dam,  Heister,  Winslow,  etc.,  etc.,  so  that  these  volumes  contain 


a  body  of  old  anatomy  (translated  now  into  close  English) 
such  as  cannot  be  met  with  in  this  shape  elsewhere.     He  then 
crives  his  own  unincumbered  deductions  from  this  '  experience,* 
under  the  heading  '  analysis.*     Each  organ  of  the  thorax  and 
abdomen  in  this  way  has  a  two-fold  chapter  allotted  to  its 
consideration,  which  chapter  is  a  complete  little  essay,  or  we 
may  say,  epic,  upon  the  subject.     The  philosophical  unity  of 
the  work  is  astonishing,  and  serves  to   unlock  the  abstrusest 
organs,  such  as  the  spleen,  thymus  gland,  super-renal  capsules, 
and  other   parts   upon   which  Swedenborg  has   dilated  with 
an    analytic    efficacy    which   the    moderns    h^e    not    even 
approached ;  and  of  which  the  ancients  afforded  scarcely  an 
indication.     Upon  these  more  mysterious  organs,  we  think  his 
views  most  suggestive  and  valuable,  and  worthy  of  the  whole 
attention  of  the  better  minds  of  the  medical  profession.    Of  the 
doctrine  of  series,  since  called  by  the  less  appropriate  term, 
'  homology,'  he  has  afibrded  the  most  singular  illustrations,  not 
confining  himself  to  the  law  of  series  in  the  solids,  but  boldly 
pushing  it  into  the  domain   of  the   fluids,  and  this  with  an 
energy  of  purpose,  and  a  strength  of  conception  and  execution, 
such  as  is  rarely  shown  by  '  any  nine  men  in  these  degenerate 
days.*     We  opened  this  book  with  surprise,  a  surprise  grounded 
upon   the   name   and   fame  of  the  author,  and  the   daring 
affirmative  stand  which  he  takes  in  limine  ;  we  close  it  with  a 
deep-laid  wonder,  and  with  an  anxious  wish  that  it  may  not 
appeal  in  vain  to  a  profession  which  may  gain  so  much,  both 
morally,  intellectually,   and  scientifically,  from  the  priceless 
truths  contained  in  its  pages.** 

78.     From  the  London  Medical  Gazette,  August  5,  1842. 
**  To  the  Editor  of  the  Medical  Gazette  : 

"  Sir — In  a  late  number  of  the  Penny  Cyclopaedia  of  the 
Society  for  the  Diflfusion  of  Useful  Knowledge,  the  claims  of 
Swedenborg  as  a  human  physiologist  are  urged  at  length,  and 
some  account  given  of  his  peculiar  doctrines.  He  is  also 
mentioned  with  approbation  in  Fletcher's  '  Physiology,'  and  in 
the  '  Medical  Repository'  for  1829.  Prevost  and  Dumas,  in 
France,  have  lately  taken  the  pains  to  give  a  critique  on  his 


130 


SWEDENBORG*S   PHYSIOLOGICAL   WORKS. 


chemical  theories.  In  Germany,  Wolfgang  Menzel  relates 
that  Goethe  was  a  student  of  his  works,  which  is,  a  'priori^ 
rendered  probable  by  the  fact,  that  something  very  like 
Goethe*s  morphological  theory  pervades  the  system  of  Swe- 
denborg.  The  '  Monthly  Magazine  *  for  May  and  June,  1841, 
and  the  '  British  Magazine  '  for  the  current  month,  also  con- 
tain some  notices  of  Swedenborg  as  a  writer  on  physical 
sciences."  The  writer  encloses  a  translation  of  the  chapter 
"  on  the  Intestines  "  from  the  *'  Animal  Kingdom,"  and  requests 
an  insertion  of  this  chapter  in  the  "  Medical  Gazette ; "  the 
chapter  appeared  in  the  number  of  August  5,  1842. 


79.      From  a  Letter  of  J,  J.  Garth  Wilkinson^  dated 

September  2,  1842. 

"  You  will  be  pleased  to  hear  that  the  London  Medical 
Gazette,  of  August  5,  contains  a  translation  of  Swedenborg's 
chapter  on  the  Intestines,  from  the  '  Animal  Kingdom.'  The 
Gazette  is  a  weekly  publication,  and  one  of  the  most  respec- 
table and  widely  circulated  of  the  medical  journals.  Not  much, 
perhaps,  is  to  be  expected  from  any  one  article  of  the  kind 
appearing  in  such  a  vehicle  ;  for  Swedenborg's  physiological 
doctrines  are  so  new,  deep,  and  comprehensive,  that  when 
presented  to  even  a  candid  mind,  full  of  ordinary  notions,  and 
breathing  the  gross  atmosphere  of  modern  science,  they  will 
probably  appear  to  be  little  more  than  a  confused  mass  of 
assumptions.  Such  is  my  experience  of  their  first  effect  on 
my  own  mind.  Now,  however,  I  am  every  day  becoming 
more  penetrated  with  the  truth  and  consequent  importance  of 
these  works.  .  .  .  They  are  the  results  of  rigid  physical 
induction.  And  it  is  both  curious  and  satisfactory  to  observe, 
that  medical  authors  have  been  for  ages  approximating,  in  the 
way  of  effects  and  details,  to  some  of  the  principles  elicited  by 
Swedenborg.  To  instance  one  of  these  cases  —  the  influence 
of  the  respiratory  movements  on,  and  their  propagation  to  the 
viscera  and  to  the  whole  body.  The  law,  that  the  body  in 
general  and  in  particular,  respires  with  the  lungs  —  that  the 
perpetuation  of  all  the  functions,  and,  in  a  word,  of  corporeal 
life,  depends  on  the  universality  of  this  action,  as  a  law — is 
peculiar  to  Swedenborg.     And  yet,  for  centuries,  the  fragments 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


131 


of  this  truth  have  flitted  across  the  mental  vision  of  physiolo- 
gists. Glisson  has  declared  it  of  the  liver — Blumenhach^  of  the 
spleen  —  Barry,  and  many  others,  of  the  heart  —  Bell,  of  the 
neck  —  Schlichting,  of  the  blood  in  the  brain  —  Fortat,  of  the 
circulation  in  the  spinal  cord :  and  I  could  easily  add  many 
other  names  and  instances  to  this  list.  Another  principle 
discovered  by  Swedenborg,  is  the  permeability  of  membranes, 
and  the  circulation  of  fluids  through  them  in  determinate 
channels ;  some  of  the  details  of  which  are  now  grouped 
under  the  names  '  Endosmosis  *  and  '  Exosmosis,' — two  phe- 
nomena which  are  thought  discoveries  of  the  present  day. 
With  regard  to  the  lymphatic  system,  Swedenborg  has 
thoroughly  anticipated  the  beautiful  theory  of  Dr,  Prout,  etc. 
And  although  it  is  as  a  discoverer  of  principles  that  Sweden- 
borg is  undoubtedly  most  valuable,  yet  his  subordinate,  theo- 
retical details,  are  also  far  superior  to  those  of  other  authors, 
because  they  refer  themselves  to  a  head,  and  derive  from  it  a 
universalizing  vital  essence." 


80.     From  the  Boston  Medical   and  Surgical  Journal,  1846. 
Second  Notice  of  the  "  Animal  Kingdom." 

"  Swedenborg  has  collected  together  the  various  facts  brought 
to  light  by  the  anatomists  of  his  time,  and  presents  analyses 
of  their  labor.  But  before  giving  an  opinion,  he  first  exhibits 
the  results  of  the  researches  of  the  highest  class  of  minds  of 
that  day,  in  the  particular  department  which  he  subjects  to  the 
fiery  furnace  of  his  own  masterly  powers  of  analysis.  If 
others  have  been  less  gratified  in  reading  Dr.  Wilkinson's 
beautiful  edition  of  the  '  Animal  Kingdom,'  than  ourselves,  it 
must  be  that  they  have  not  discovered  how  much  and  in  how 
many  ways  Swedenborg  actually  anticipated  some  of  the 
modern  book-manufacturers,  who  claim  distinction  on  the  score 
of  suggestions  or  discoveries,  that  are  as  old  as  his  Latin  man- 
uscripts. There  is  not  so  much  attention  given  to  the  philoso- 
phical disquisitions  of  Swedenborg  as  they  merit.  Perhaps 
this  is  to  be  imputed  to  prejudice  on  account  of  his  theological 
views,  and  the  doctrines  he  promulgated  respecting  a  new 
system  of  divine  revelation. 


132 


SWEDENBORG*S  PHYSIOLOGICAL  WORKS. 


SWEDENBORG*S   PHYSIOLOGICAL   WORKS. 


133 


"  An  opening  prologue  to  the  '  Animal  Kingdom,'  Vol.  T.,  is 
a  beautiful  specimen  of  refined  reasoning,  and  of  itself  would 
be  no  mean  exhibition  of  intellectual  strength.  ...  To 
qualify  himself  to  write  on  the  structure  and  functions  of  the 
organs  discussed  in  this  volume,  he  studied  all  the  authorities 
extant,  which  are  quoted  in  full,  and  his  own  opinions  and 
conclusions  are  annexed,  at  the  close  of  each  discourse.  Accom- 
panying the  detailed  quotations,  there  are  notes  and  comments 
in  such  abundance,  that  we  are  postively  amazed  at  the  pro- 
digious amount  of  Swedenborg's  chirographical  industry, 
independent  of  the  mental  exercise  that  must  have  preceded 
it.     There  are  no  such  scholars  in  Europe  now.     Are  there 

any  in  the  world  ? 

•'  Without  fear  of  contradiction,  we  honestly  say  that  Swe- 
denborg,  as  a  physiologist  and  natural  philosopher,  is  either 
not  known  or  appreciated  by  those  who  have  access  to  his 
works,  or  a  studied  injustice  still  keeps  him  from  being 
acknowledged,  universally,  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  men 
that  have  appeared  since  the  dawn  of  true  science." 

81.     From  the  "  Veterinary  Record''  April,  1845. 

'^  Swedenhorg's  '  Animal  Kingdom,' — The  publication  of  these 
volumes  is,  in  more  points  than  one,  no  uninteresting  occurreuce. 
In  fact,  they  admit  of  at  least  a  two-fold  consideration.  la 
the  first  place,  the  anatomical  basis  on  which  the  views  they 
contain  are  founded,  is  supplied  directly  from  the  works  of 
the  great  anatomists  of  former  times, — of  those  who  were  tlie 
fathers  of  the  organic  sciences,  whose  discoveries  were  our 
inheritance,  and  whose  accumulated  wealth,  re-cast  in  the 
moulds  of  the  present  day,  furnishes  even  yet  the  most  pass- 
able and  purest  coin  that  we  have  in  circulation  in  our  schools 
of  science.  In  the  second  place,  they  attempt  a  theory  of 
organic  nature,  and  specifically  of  the  human  body  ;  and  they 
aim  to  show  the  connection  of  the  natural  sciences  with  each 
other,  and  afterwards  with  the  human  mind,  and  with  human 
society  ;  in  fine,  with  a  philosophy  of  causes." 

The  reviewer,  after  noticing  at  some  length  the  great  ana- 
tomists of  former  times,  referred  to  by  Swedenborg,  says, — 

"  But  we  have  said  enough,  perhaps  too  much,  concerning 


these  forgotten  anatomists :  something  must  be  said  of  Swe- 
denborg, or  the  chief  character  would  be  omitted  from  the 
drama  ;  and  yet  how  to  speak  of  him  is  a  question,  for  Swe- 
denborg is  a  mystery  which  in  its  whole  extent  a  scientific 
journal  is  not  the  place  to  attempt  to  solve. 

"  The  view  which  he  takes  of  the  body  is,  to  a  great  extent, 
mechanical ;  but  then  he  predicates  a  mechanism  of  the  fluids 
as  well  as  of  the  solids.  He  applies  everywhere  the  Doctrine 
of  Series.  Some  glimpses  of  this  important  instrument  for 
rational  physiological  knowledge  have  been  seen  by  Cams  and 
other  writers ;  and  it  has  been  applied  by  them  to  the  bones. 
Thus  they  have  aimed  to  show,  that  all  the  bones,  including 
those  of  the  cranium,  are  repetitions  of  the  vertebras  ;  in  a 
word,  that  in  the  bones  there  is  but  one  principle,  and  many 
modifications.  Now,  Swedenborg  has  carried  this  law  through 
the  soft  parts  as  well  as  the  bones,  and  through  the  fluids 
equally  with  the  solids.  With  him  '  every  thing  is  a  series, 
and  in  a  series.*  The  whole  of  the  viscera  are  a  stupenduous 
series,  in  the  higher  parts  of  which  (the  brain,  for  instance,) 
every  thing  goes  on  that  goes  on  in  the  lower.  Thus  the  lower 
are  so  many  legible  illustrations  of  the  higher ;  the  diff'use 
organs  of  the  abdomen  and  chest  are  explanations  of  the  con- 
centrated cerebrum.  We  shall  not  dwell  further  on  this  law, 
but  simply  observe  that  Swedenborg  so  consistently  applied 
it  as  to  arrive  by  induction  at  the  existence  of  an  animatory 
motion  in  the  brain,  synchronous  with  the  respiratory  motion 
of  the  lungs  ;  a  doctrine  which  has  much  to  do  with  the  whole 

of  his  physiology. 

"  His  opinions  upon  the  spleen,  the  thymus  gland,  and  the 
supra-renal  capsules,  are,  to  say  the  least,  extremely  curious, 
and  at  any  rate  consistent  with  the  rest  of  his  theory :  how  far 
they  may  be  admissible  in  modern  science,  or  consistent  with 
it,  is  another  and  a  widely  different  question.  This,  however, 
we  will  say,  that  the  amount  of  mere  anatomical  knowledge 
of  these  organs  which  has  been  added  to  the  store  since  his 
time,  is  (notwithstanding  Sir  Ashley  Cooper's  splendidly 
printed  quarto  on  the  thymus)  altogether  insignificant ;  so  that 
Swedenborg  may  upon  these  points  be  almost  as  well  tested  by 
the  knowledge  of  his  own  day  as  by  that  of  ours. 

12 


134 


SWEDENBORG*S  PHYSIOLOGICAL  WORKS. 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


135 


"  Swedenborg's  ideas  of  respiration  are,  to  our  mind, 
altogether  new,  and,  if  true,  of  great  importance  as  modifying 
our  views  of  nearly  the  whole  field  of  physiology.  We  shall 
therefore  conclude  this  Review  by  citing  the  following  notice 
of  them  from  the  '  Translator's  Introductory  Remarks,'  beg- 
ging our  readers  for  a  few  brief  moments  to  forget  oxygen, 
hydrogen,  and  carbon,  or,  if  that  be  impossible,  to  give  those 
necessary  elements  only  a  secondary  place  in  their  conceptions." 

A  long  extract  from  Mr.  Wilkinson's  Introductory  Remarks, 
pp.  xxiv. — xxvii.,  then  follows  ;  after  which  the  reviewer  con- 
cludes thus  : — 

"  So  far  the  translator.  We  have  now  done  with  the  Animal 
Kingdom ;  and  we  honestly  declare,  that,  be  its  merits  great 
or  none,  or  in  whatever  intermediate  category  it  be  placed,  it 
stands  alone  amid  scientific  writings,  and  is  a  monument,  at 
any  rate,  of  the  persistent  daring  and  originality  of  Sweden- 
borg's mind." 

82.     From  Dr,  Willcinson^s  ^^Introductory  Remarks**  to  the 
"  Animal  Kingdom"  Vol.  I.  pp.  xliii.  etc. 

"  Swedenborg's  analysis  is  professedly  supported  upon  the 
foundation  of  the  old  anatomists,  who  flourished  in  the  Aujrus- 
tan  age  of  the  science.  At  his  time  nearly  all  the  great  and 
certain  facts  of  anatomy  were  already  known  ;  such  for  ex- 
ample as  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  and  the  existence  of 
the  lymphatics  and  the  lacteals.  Anatomy,  too,  had  long 
been  cultivated  distinctly  in  the  human  subject,  and  was  to  a 
gi'eat  extent  purified  of  the  errors  that  crept  into  it  at  first 
from  dissecting  the  lower  animals.  Many  of  the  old  anato- 
mists were  men  of  a  philosophic  spirit,  who  proposed  to  them- 
selves the  problem  of  the  universe,  and  solved  it  in  their  own 
way,  or  tried  to  solve  it.  They  were  the  first  observers 
of  nature's  speaking  marvels  in  the  organic  sphere,  and 
described  them  with  feelings  of  delight,  which  showed  that 
they  were  receptive  of  instruction  from  the  great  fountain  of 
truth.  They  worked  at  once  with  the  mind  and  senses  in  the 
field  of  observation.  There  was  a  certain  superior  manner 
and  artistic  form  in  their  treatises.  They  believed  instinc- 
tively in  the  doctrine  of  use.     They  expected  nature  to  be 


wonderful,  and  supposed  therefore  that  the  human  body  m- 
yolved  much  which  it  required  the  distinct  exercise  of  the  mmd 
to  discover.     Hence  their  belief  in  the  existence  of  the  animal 
soirits  ;  a  belief  which  they  based  upon  common  sense,  or  what 
amounts  to  the  same  thing,  upon  the  general  experience  of 
effects;  at  the  same  time  that  they  recognized  its  object  as 
beyond  sensual  experience,  and  not  to  be  confirmed  d'rectly  by 
si4t  »     They  used  the  microscope  to  assist  and  fortily  the 
eve  Lnd  not  to  substitute  it,  or  dissipate  its  objective  sphere. 
Even  the  greatest  among  them,  who  addicted  himself  to  the 
bare  study  of  structure  and  the  making  of  illustrative  prepa- 
rations, expressed  a  noble  hope  that  others  would  complete  h.s 
labors,  by  making  as  distinct  a  study  of  uses-t 

»  But  the  picture  is  not  without  its  darker  side.     Although 
they  had  strong  instincts  and  vivid  glimpses  of  truth,  yet  when 
they  attempted  to  carry  their  perceptions  out,  they  degenerated 
into  mere  hypotheses,  and  systems  of  hypotheses      They  did 
not  ascend  high  enough  before  they  again  descended,  nor  did 
they  explore  nature  by  an  integral  method ;  and  hence  they 
had  no  means  of  pursuing  analogies  without  destroying  the 
everlasting  distinctions  of  things.     They  stopped  in  that  mid- 
way where  scepticism  easily  overtook  them,  and  where,  when 
that  enemy  of  the  human  intellect  had  once  penetrated,  there 
was  no  possibility  of  maintaining  themselves,  but  the  fall  to 
the  sensual  sphere  was  inevitable.     The  reason  of  tins  was, 
that  they  had  not  couceived  the  laws  of  order,  and  therefore 
could  not  claim  the  support  which  nature  gives  to  all  her  truths. 
Nay  it  was  so  impossible  that  they  should  proceed  further 
without  the  tincture  of  a  universal  method,  that  their  mmds 
came  to  a  stand-still  ;  the  truths  already  elicited  were  rendered 
unsatisfactory,  and  mere  progress  demanded  their  fall.     They 
fell  therefore,  and  a  race  which  knows  them  not  is  dwelling 
now  in  tent  and  hut  among  their  mighty  ruins. 

»  At  the  very  crisis  of  their  fate,  Swedenborg  took  the  field, 
and  at  once  declared,  that  unless  matters  were  carried  higher, 
experimental  knowledge  itself  would  perish,  and  the  arts  and 


*  Heister. 


t  Euysch. 


136 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


137 


sciences  be  carried  to  the  tomb,  adding  that  he  was  much  mis- 
taken if  the  world's  destinies  were  not  tending  thitherwards. 
The  task  that  he  undertook  was,  to  build  the  heaps  of  experi- 
ence into  a  palace  in  which  the  human  mind  might  dwell,  and 
enjoy  security  from   without,    and   spiritual   prosperity   from 
within.     He  brought  to  tliat  task  requisites,  both  external  and 
internal,  of  an  extraordinary  kind.      He  was  a  naturalized 
subject  in  all  the  kingdoms  of  human  thought,  and  yet  was  born 
at  the  same  time  to  another  order  and  better  country.     To  the 
various  classes  of  schoolmen  he  appears  never  to  have  attached 
himself,  excepting  for  different  purposes  from  theirs.     He  pur- 
sued mathematics  for  a  distinctly  extraneous  end.     As  a  stu- 
dent of  physiology  he  belonged  to  no  clique  or  school,  and  had 
no  class-prejudices  to  encounter.     In   theology  he  was  almost 
as  free  mentally,  as  though  not  a  single  commentator   had 
written,  or  system  been  formed,  but  as  though  his  hands  were 
the  first  in  which  the  Word  of  God  was  placed  in  its  virgin 
purity.      Add  to  this  tliat  lie  by  no  means  disregarded  the 
works  of  others,  but  was   learned  in  all  useful  learning.     He 
had  a  sound  practical  education,  and  was  employed  daily  in  the 
actual  business  of  life  for  a  series  of  years.    He  was  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  mechanics,  chemistry,  mathematics,  astron- 
omy, and  the  other  sciences  as  known  in  his  time,  and  had 
elicited  universal  truths  in  the  sphere  of  each.      From  the 
beginning  he  perceived  that  there  was  an  order  in  nature. 
This  enabled  him  to  pursue  his  own  studies  with  a  view  to 
order.     He   ascended  from  the  theory  of  earthy  substances  to 
the  theory  of  the  atmospheres,  and  from  both  to  the  theory  of 
cosmogony,  and  came  gradually  to  man  as  the  crowning  object 
of  nature.     He  brought  the  order  of  the  macrocosm  to  illus- 
trate the  order  of  the  microcosm.     His  dominant  end,  which 
he  never  lost  sight  of  for  a  moment,  was  spiritual  and  moral, 
which  preserved  his  mind   alive  in  a  long  course  of  physical 
studies,  and  empowered  him  to  see  life  and  substance  in  the 
otherwise  dead  machinery  of  the  creation.     He  was  a  man  of 
uncommon  humbleness,  and  never  once  looked  back,  to  gratify 
self-complacency,  upon  past  achievements,  but  travelled  on- 
wards and  still  onwards,  '  without  fatigue  and  without  repose,' 
to  a  home  in  the  fruition  of  the  infinite  and  eternal.     Such 


was  the  competitor  who  now  entered  the  arena  of  what  had, 
until  this  time,  been  exclusively  medical  science  ;  truly  a  man 
of  whom  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  he  possessed  the  kind- 
liest, broadest,  highest,  most  theoretical  and  most  practical 
genius  that  it  has  yet  pleased  God  to  bestow  on  the  weary  ages 
of  civilization. 

"Swedenborg   perceived   that   the   permanence   of   nature 
depends  upon  the  excellence  of  its  order,  that  all  creation 
exists  and  subsists  as  one  thing  from  God  ;  that  divine  love  is 
its  end ;  divine  wisdom,  its  cause ;  and  divine  order,  in  the 
theatre  of  use,  the  simultaneous  or  ultimate  form  of  that  wis- 
dom and  love.     He  also  perceived,  that  the  permanence  of  any 
human  system,  whether  a  philosophy  or  a  society,  depends 
upon  the   coincidence   between   its   order  and   the   order  of 
creation ;  and  that  when  this  coincidence  exists,  the  percep- 
tions of  reason  have  a  fixed  place  and  habitation  on  the  earth, 
from  which  it  will  be  impossible  to  dislodge  them  by  anything 
short  of  a  crumbling  down  of  all  the  faculties,  both  rational 
and  sensual ;  a  result  which,  if  the  human  heart  be  improving, 
the  belief  in  a  God  forbids  us  to  anticipate.     But  Swedenborg 
did  not  rest,  as  the  philosophers  do,  in  a  mere  algebraical  per- 
ception of  truth,  or  in  recognizing  a  want  without  supplying 
it ;  but  like  a  good  and  faithful  servant  he  actually  expounded 
a  system  of  principles  at  one  with  nature  herself,  and  which 
will  attest  their  order  and  their  real  Author  by  standing  for 

ages  and  ages. 

"  But  his  still,  small  voice  commanded  no  attention,  and 
what  he  predicted  took  place :  the  sciences  were  carried  to  the 
tomb,  where  they  now  are  buried,  with  the  mind  their  subject, 
in  the  small  dust  of  modern  experience.  This  brings  us  to 
say  a  few  words  of  the  physiology  of  the  day. 

"  Facts  are  the  grand  quest  of  the  present  time,  and  these, 
particular  facts :  general  facts  are  less  recognized  now  than 
they  were  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century ;  for  short- 
sightedness has  so  increased  upon  us,  that  we  must  look  close 
in-order  to  see  distinctly,  and  hence  extended  surfaces  do  not 
fall  under  our  vision.  The  physiologist  defers  reasoning,  until 
the  accumulation  of  facts  is  sufficiently  great,  to  suggest 
reasons  out  of  its  own  bosom.     This  is  a  step  beyond  ordinary 

12* 


/ 


138 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


materialism.     The  individual  materialist  considers  that  matter 
must  be  organized  into  the  form  of  a  brain  before  it  can  think 
and  will ;  but  that  compound  materialist,  the  scientific  world, 
expects  dead  matter  to  open  its  mouth  and  utter  wisdom,  with- 
out any  such  previous  process.     It  thinks  that  at  present  there 
is  not  matter  enough,  or  this  result  would  ensue  ;  little  dream- 
ing that  there  is  a  fault  in  itself,  and  that  the  larger  the  stores 
it  possesses,  the  more  impossible  it  will  be  to  evolve  their 
principles,  or  to  marshal  them  under  a  theory.     The  common 
facts  of  the  body  having  been  pretty  well  explored,  the  physi- 
ologists go  inwards,  and  gather  further  facts.     Without  wait- 
ing to  ascertain  the   import  of  these,  they  submit  them  to  the 
microscope,   and  again  decompose  them ;   and  so  on   to  the 
limits  prescribed  by  nature  to  the  optician,  and  by  the  optician 
to  the  scientific  inquirer.     But  is  the  field  of  leasts  more  easy 
to  discern  than  that  of    compounds  ;    or  if  we  cannot  read 
nature's  secret  in  her  countenance,  can  we  expect  to  divine  it 
from  her  very  brains  ?     The  truth  is,  that  the  modern  state  of 
physiology  is  a  universal  dispersion  of  even  sensual  knowledge  ; 
its  pretended  respect  for  facts  is  not  real ;  otherwise  it  would 
inquire  into  their  general  significance  before  resolving  them 
into   further   elements.      It   perpetually   illustrates   the   prin- 
ciple  that   facts   cannot   be   duly   respected   unless   they   are 
seen  as  agents  of  uses,  and  results  of  ends  and  causes  ;  and  that 
if  they  are  not  so  regarded,  they  become  mere  playthings, 
to  which  novelty  itself  can  lend  scarcely  a  momentary  charm. 
"  But  as  every  end  progresses  through  more  means  than  one, 
so  science  is  undergoing  dispersion  in  another  direction  also. 
Not  only  are  the  generals  of  anatomy  forgotten  for  its  particu- 
lars, but  the  human  frame  itself  is  in  a  great  measure  deserted 
for  comparative  anatomy.     The  so-called  human  physiologist 
pursues  his  diffuse  circle  from  animal  to  animal,  from  insect 
to  insect,  and  from  plant  to  plant.     Man  is  confounded  with 
the  lower  and  lowest  things,  as  if  all  the  spheres  of  creation 
were  in  one  plane  of  order.     The  consummation  of  this  ten- 
dency is  already  more  than  indicated  above  the  horizon,  when 
the  lowest  range  of  existence  will  be  the  standard  of  all,  and 
then  the  chaos  of  organic  nature  will  become  the  legitimate 
property  of  the  chemists,  to  be  by  them  resolved  into  gases 
and  the  dead  materials  of  the  earth. 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


139 


"  Another   characteristic  of   the  times  is  the  almost  total 
breach  of  continuity  between  the  present  and  the  past.     The 
terminology  of  science  is  so  much  altered  that  it  is  impossible 
to  read  th°e  older  works  with  benefit,  unless  after  a  course  of 
study  something  like  that  requisite  for  learning  a  dead  language. 
In  consequence,  the  mere  anatomical  value  of  the  fathers  of 
anatomy  is  not  at  all  understood  ;  their  rich  mines  of  observa- 
tion  are  no  longer  worked,  and  their  forgotten  discoveries  are 
now  and  then  again  discovered,  with  all  the  pains  of  a  first 
attempt,  by  their  ill-informed  successors.     Can  anything  be  less 
human  than  this,— that  the  parents  should  transmit  so  little  to 
the  children,  or  rather  that  the  children  should  be  willing  to 
receive  so  little  from  the  parents?     It  exchanges  the  high 
destiny  of  man  for  the  fate  that  attends  the  races  of  animals, 
in  which  each  generation  lives  for  itself  alone,  and  again  and 
again  repeats  the  same  limited  series,  without  improvement  or 
the  possibility  of  evolution. 

"  In  the  midst  of  this  humiliating  condition,  what  loud 
sounds  do  we  not  hear  of  '  march  of  intellect'  and  '  progress 
of  the  species,'— so  many  discharges  from  the  impotent  artillery 
of  self-conceit.  This  indeed  is  the  last  and  worst  sign  of  a 
decadent  science.  The  poor  sick  sufferer  is  delirious,  and 
possesses  for   a   moment   superhuman  strength  m  his   own 

exhaustion.     ... 

"  But  it  would  be  far  from  the  present  line  of  argument,  to 
maintain  that  the  moderns  are  performing  no  useful  function 
in  the  '  progress  of  the  species.'     Such  a  proposition  would  be 
incompatible  with  what  we  know  of  the  divine  economy,  m 
which  human  degeneracy  itself  is  converted  into  a  new  point 
in  the  circle  of  uses.     Nay,  the  moderns  ha^^  their  direct 
value  ;  in  the  first  place,  they  have  enlarged  the  catena  ot 
observation  in  many  departments.     In  the  second,  they  have 
corrected  innumerable  minute  errors  in  their  predecessors,  who 
were  more  intent  upon  their  general  than  particular  accuracy. 
And  thirdly  and  chiefly,  although  in  this  respect  no  credit 
attaches  to  them,  they  have  gone  so  low  in  their  inquiries, 
that  as  it  is  even  physically  impossible  to  go  lower,  so  by  the 
law  of  the  contact  of  extremes  a  revolution  may  now  take 
place,  and  the  ascending  passage  be  commenced,  as  it  were  from 
the  skin  to  the  brain,  or  from  the  lowest  sphere  to  the  highest. 


140 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


141 


"  It  would  be  interesting  to  trace  the  successive  stages  by 
which  the  physiology  of  the  ancients  declines  into  that  of  the 
moderns,  to  review  the  grounds  on  which  great  doctrines 
were  given  up,  and  to  test  the  sufficiency  of  the  reasons  which 
were  adduced  for  the  change.  The  state  delineated  in  the  weU- 
known  lines — 

*  I  do  not  like  thee,  Doctor  Fell, 
The  reason  why,  I  cannot  tell ; 
But  this  alone  I  know  full  well, 
I  do  not  like  thee.  Doctor  Fell.' 

—this  state  was  the  moving  cause  of  it.     In  short,  it  was  a 
change  in  the  human  will,  and  not  primarily  in  the  understand- 
ing, which  faculty  appears  to  have  been  called  upon  subse- 
quently, to  confirm  the  new  turn  of  the  inclinations.     Such  at 
any  rate  we  know  to  be  the  case  with  the  doctrine  of  the 
animal  spirits,  which,  asGlisson  said,  was  in  his  time  believed 
in  '  by  nearly  all  physicians,  and  by  all  philosophers.'     It  might 
have  been  supposed  that  the  animal  spirits  were  demonstrated 
out  of    existence  by  some  beneficent  genius  who  substituted 
something  better  in  their  place  ;  at  least  that  they  fell  honor- 
ably in  a  well-fought  field  of  argument.     No  such  thing  ;  they 
fell  by  the  treachery  of  the   human  heart  loving  the^'sensual 
sphere  more  than  the  intellectual.     Is  such  mere  waywardness 
as  this  a  part  of  the  '  progress  of  the  species  ? '     The  ancients 
believed  in  the  existence  of  the  animal  spirits  without  pretend- 
ing that  they  could  become  objects  of  sight.     '  Tam  subtile 
sit  concipiendum   [fluidum  hoc  subtilissimum],'  says  Heister, 
*.     .    .    ut  instar  lucis  velocissime  se  diffundat ;  quod  profecto 
nonoculis,  sed  ex  effectibus  et  phaenomenis,      .      .     .   ope 
judicii   sive  mentis   oculis    cognoscendum.     .     .     Ita  aerem, 
animam,  et  multa  non   videmus,   quae   tamen  ex   effectibus,' 
quemadmodum  spiritusanimales,  esse  et  existere  intelligimus:* 


♦Comp.  Anat.,  n.  301,  not.  a.  *«This  subtlest  fluid  must  be  con- 
ceived  of  so  subtle  as  to  spread  in  the  quickest  manner  like  light;  it 
cannot  indeed  be  discovered  with  the  eyes ;  but  with  the  help  of  the 
understanding  or  the  mind's  eyes  from  its  effects  and  phenomena. 
Thus  we  do  not  see  the  air,  the  soul  and  many  other  things,  and  yet 
we  know  from  their  effects,  that  they  have  being  and  exist,  just 
as  the  animal  spirits." 


But  the  moderns  reject  whatever  they  do  not  see,  and  will 
credit  the  existence  of  nothing  that  absolutely  outlies,  and 
must  in  its  conditions  forever  outlie,  the  senses.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  a  state  like  this  is  based  upon  neither  reasons  nor 
sensations,  but  is  purely  negative  or  sceptical,  and  must  be 
referred  to  sheer  will  without  any  admixture  of  wisdom. 

"We  promised  at  the  outset  to  speak  of  the  relation  in 
which  Swedenborg's  philosophy  stands  to  the  science  of  the 
day,  but  it  will  now  be  seen  that  there  is  no  direct  relation 
between  the  two,  but  a  plenary  repugnancy.  For  the  one  is 
order,  the  other  is  chaos :  the  one  is  concentration,  the  other 
is  infinite  division :  the  one  enlarges  its  limits  in  that  interior 
Avorld  where  creation  exists  in  all  its  spiritual  amplitude,  the 
other  loses  its  limits,  and  its  distinct  life  along  with  them,  in 
the  great  vacuities  of  space  and  time :  the  one  is  a  rod  and 
staff  giving  the  mind  a  practical  support  in  the  exploration  of 
nature's  fields,  the  other  is  a  mist  of  hypotheses  crawling 
along  the  ground,  and  making  every  step  uncertain  and  peril- 
ous.    .     .     . 

"  The  reader  may  probably  be  led  to  inquire,  how  far  the 
'  Animal  Kingdom '  embodies  doctrines  which  were  current  at 
Swedenborg's  day,  and  how  far  its  deductions  are  peculiar  to 
our  author .°  To  this  it  may  be  answered,  that  many  doctrines 
to  be  met  with  in  the  Work  are  by  no  means  peculiar  to  Swe- 
denborg,  but  were  the  common  intellectual  property  of  his 
contemporaries  and  predecessors.  We  have  seen  that  a  host 
of  writers  held  the  doctrine  of  the  animal  spirits.  It  was  also 
no  uncommon  belief  that  they  were  elaborated  by  the  cortical 
substances  of  the  brain,  and  circulated  through  the  nerves. 
Vieussens  held  that  there  were  distinct  degrees  of  them. 
Brunn  propounded  the  same  doctrine  as  Swedenborg  respect- 
ing the  pituitary  gland  ;  and  numerous  instances  to  the  same 
effect  might  readily  be  adduced  from  other  writers.  Perhaps 
the  best  means  to  be  certified  on  this  head,  will  be  the  perusal 
of  Boerhaave's  '  Institutiones  Medicae,'  —  a  work  where  the 
theories  of  many  ages  are  condensed  into  an  eclectic  system. 
It  appears  as  though  Swedenborg  freely  availed  himself  of  the 
treasures  that  were  accumulated  around  him  and  before  him, 
and  was  altogether  destitute  of  that  passion  for  originality 


|:l 


Hi 


142 


SWEDENBORG*S   PHYSIOLOGICAL   WORKS. 


SWEDENBORG'S  PHYSIOLOGICAL  WORKS. 


143 


which  has  heen  the  besetting  sin  of  so  many  learned.  He 
distinctly  states  that  he  has  relied  upon  his  own  experience  to 
but  a  small  extent,  and  that  he  has  deemed  it  wiser,  for  the 
most  part,  to  '  borrow  '  from  others.*  So  also  where  he  found 
true  doctrines  and  deductions,— these  likewise  he  borrowed, 
and  this,  with  generously  grateful  acknowledgment.  But  what 
he  really  brought  to  the  task  were  those  great  principles  of 
order  to  which  we  have  before  alluded,  and  which  touched 
nothing  that  they  did  not  universalize  and  adorn  ;  nay,  which 
built  the  materials  of  experience  and  the  deductions  of  reason 
into  a  glorious  palace  that  truths  could  inhabit.  It  is  as  the 
architect  of  this  edifice  that  Swedenborg  is  to  be  viewed  ;  and 
his  merits  are  to  be  sought  for  not  so  much  in  its  separate 
stones,  as  in  the  grand  harmonies  and  colossal  proportions  of 
the  whole. 

"  After  this  statement  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  observe, 
that  Swedenborg  is  not  to  be  resorted  to  as  an  authority  for 
anatomical  facts.     It  is  said,  indeed,  that  he  has  made  various 
discoveries  in  anatomy,  and  the  canal  named  the  '  foramen  of 
Monro'  is  instanced  among  thcscf     Supposing  that  it  were 
so.  It  would  be  dishonoring  Swedenborg  to  lay  any  stress  upon 
a  circumstance  so  trivial.     Whoever  discovered  this  foramen 
was  most  properly  led  to  it  by  the  lucky  slip  of  a  probe.     But 
other  claims  are  made  for  our  author  by  his  injudicious  friends. 
It  is  said  that  he  anticipated  some  of  the  most  valuable  novel^ 
ties  of  more  recent  date,  such  as  the  phrenological  doctrine  of 
the  great  Gall,  and  the  newly  practised  art  of  animal  magnet- 
ism.    This  is  not  quite  fair  :  let  every  benefactor  to  mankind 
have  his  own  honorable  wreath,  nor  let  one  leaf  be  stolen  from 
It  to  the  already  laureled  brow  of  Swedenborg.    True  it  is  that 
all  these  things,  and  many  more,  lie  in  ovo° in  the  universal 
principles  made  known  through  him,  but  they  were  not  devel- 
oped  by  him  in  that  order  which  constitutes  all  their  novelty 
and  in  fact  their  distinct  existence.     For  in  the  first  place  it 
is  impossible  for  the  human  mind  to  anticipate  facts ;  these 


*  "  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdon,  part !.,  n.  18. 
t  '*  See  •Animal  liingdom,'  n.  190,  note  (r).'* 


must  always  be  learned  by  the  senses  ;  and  secondly,  Sweden- 
borg was  too  much  a  man  of  business  to  turn  aside  from  the 
direct  means  to  his  end,  or  attempt  to  develop  anything  beyond 
those  means.     His  philosophy  is  the  high  road  from  the  natural 
world  to  the  spiritual,  and  of  course  has  innumerable  lateral 
branches  leading  to  the  several  fair  regions  of  human  knowl- 
ed"^e :  but  through  none  of  these  by-ways  had  Swedenborg 
time  to  travel :  nay,  could  he  have  done  so,  there  is  nothing  to 
show  that  he  w^ould  there  have  discovered  what  his  successors 
have  done.     He  had  his  mission,  and  they  have  theirs.     His 
views  are  at  harmony  with  all  that  is  new  and  true,  simply 
because  they  are  universal,  but  in  no  fair  sense  do  they  antici- 
pate, much  less  supersede,  the  scientific  peculium  of  the  present 
century.     Swedenborg,  therefore,  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  an 
Aristotle  governing  the  human  mind,  and  indisposing  it  to  the 
instruction  designed  to  be  gained  from  nature  ;  but  as  a  pro- 
pounder  of  principles  the  result  of  analysis,  and  of  a  method 
that  is  to  excite  us  to  a  perpetual  study  in  the  field  of  effects, 
as  a  condition  of  the  progress  of  science.     ,     .     . 

"  The  professional  reader  of  the  '  Animal  Kingdom  *  will 
not  fail  to  discover  that  the  author  has  fallen  into  various 
anatomical  errors  of  minor  importance,  and  that  there  are 
occasionally  marks  of  haste  in  his  performance.  This  may 
be  conceded  without  in  any  degree  detracting  from  the  char- 
acter of  the  work.  These  errors  do  not  involve  matters  of 
principle.  The  course  which  Swedenborg  adopted,  of  found- 
ing his  theory  upon  general  experience,  and  of  only  resorting 
to  particular  facts  as  confirmations,  so  equilibrates  and  com- 
pensates all  mis-statements  of  the  kind,  that  they  may  be 
rejected  from  the  result  as  unimportant.  To  dwell  upon  them 
as  serious,  and  still  more  to  make  the  merit  of  the  theory  hinge 
upon  them,  is  worthy  only  of  a  '  minute  philosopher,'  who 
has  some  rule  whereby  to  judge  a  truth,  instead  of  the  law  of 
use.  Such  unhappily  was  the  rule  adopted  by  the  reviewer 
of  the  '  Animal  Kingdom '  in  the  '  Acta  Eruditorum  Lipsiensia ' 
(1747,  pp.  507-514)  :  the  book  was  despised  by  this  critic 
because  Swedenbor<(  had  committed  an  error  in  describino"  the 
muscles  of  the  tongue,  and  because  he  had  cited  the  plates  of 
Bidloo  and  Verheyen,  which  Heister  and  Morgagni  had  then 


144 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


made  it  a  fashion  to  disparage ;  and  for  other  equally  incon- 
clusive reasons.  All  they  amounted  to,  was,  that  Swedenbor^ 
had  not  accomplished  the  reviewer's  end,  however  thorou^rhly 
he  had  performed  his  own.  ° 

"  But  fortunately  such  criticisms  are  never  decisive ;  a  sinMe 
truth  can  outlive  ten  thousand  of  them.     The  '  Animal  Kino-- 
dom'  appeals  to   the  world  at    this  time,  a  hundred  years 
smce  the  publication  of  the  original,  as  a  new  production,  hav- 
ing all  the  claims  of  an  unjudged  book  upon  our  regards.    For 
during  that  hundred  years  not  a  single  writer  has  Appeared  in 
the  learned  world,  who  has  in  the   slightest  degree   compre- 
heuded  its  design,  or  mastered  its  principles  and  details.     The 
reviewer  to  whom   we  have  already  alluded,  judged  it  by  a 
standard  which  was  suited  only  to  an  anatomical  manual  and 
text-book.     Haller  bestowed  a  few  words  upon  it  in  his  inval- 
uable '  Bibliotheca  Anatomica,'  but  he  knew  nothin«^  of  Swe- 
denborg's   views ;    and   his  notice  of  the  '  Econonfy  of  the 
Animal  Kingdom,'  contains  errors  too  numerous  not  to  invali- 
date his  censure,  had  he  bestowed  it,  which,  however,  he  has  not 
done  directly.     Sprengel,  in  his  '  History  of  Medicine,'  has 
offered  a  few  lines  upon  the  work,  but  these  merely  of  a  bib- 
liographical import.    The  past,  therefore,  has  found  no  fault  in 
It,  and  It  comes  before  the  reader  with  an  uninjured  character, 
and  demands  as  a  good,  true  and  useful  book,  to  be  taken  into 
his  service,  and  to  receive  a  full  trial  at  his  hands.     The 
modern  physiologists  having  no  theory  of  their  own,  have  no 
reference  to  it,  nor  until  they  quit  their  present  ground  can 
they  be  allowed  to  have  an  opinion  on  the  subject.     Their 
censure  would  not  be  more  relevant  than  wonld  the  opposition 
of  a  Red  Indian  lo  the  problems  of  the  mathematics. 

"  But  it  may  fairly  be  asked,  what  are  the  prospects  that  the 
'  Animal  Kingdom,'  and  the  scientific  works  of  Swedenbor- 
generally,  will  be  received  at  this  day,  when  they  refer  to  an 
order  of  facts  almost  forgotten,  when  they  involve  a  scientific 
terminology  which  has  become  partially  obsolete,  and  especially 
when  It  IS  considered  that  there  never  perhaps  was  an  a-e  so 
well  satisfied  with  itself  and  its  own  achievements  as°  the 
present  one  ?  Their  prospects  in  the  high  places  of  science 
are  not,  indeed,  encouraging ;  it  would  be  vain  to  build  up  hopes 


SWEDENBORG  S   PHYSIOLOGICAL  WORKS. 


145 


in  that  quarter,  or  to  address  expostulations  to  it.  A  com- 
mission of  any  ^oyal  Academy  in  Christendom  would  soon 
decide  our  claims  in  the  negative.  But  fortunately  there  are 
abundant  signs  of  a  breaking  up.  The  scientific  world,  and 
specifically  the  medical  world,  which  is  always  the  highest 
exponent  of  the  state  of  science,  is  in  a  state  of  intestine  revo- 
lution ;  nay,  what  is  saying  much,  it  is  nearly  as  full  of  dis- 
sension as  the  church  itself.  It  would  be  exceedingly  unpal- 
atable to  dwell  upon  its  divisions,  to  specify  the  sects  which 
have  separated  from  the  maternal  body,  and  to  show  the 
irreconcilable  nature  of  the  differences  that  subsist  between 
orthodox  medicine  and  her  refractory  children.  The  future 
historian,  standing  upon  the  grave  of  once  venerated  institu- 
tions, may  do  this  with  impartiality,  and  not  without  a  feeling 
of  pity.  Meanwhile  it  is  our  privilege  to  rejoice,  that  amid 
the  decadence  of  science  new  ground  is  being  broken,  and  new 
spirits  raised  up,  to  some  of  whom  the  new  truth  may  be 
accommodated  and  delightful. , 

"  We  use  the  phrase  '  new  truth,'  although  the  works  which 
contain  it  have  been  buried  in  the  dust  for  a  whole  century  ; 
but  in  so  doing  we  simply  allude  to  the  principles  involved  in 
these  works.  The  confirmatory  facts  by  which  these  principles 
were  brought  into  relation  with  the  science  of  Swedenborg's 
day,  may  doubtless  from  time  to  time  be  superseded  by  better 
attestations :  particular  facts  are  but  the  crutches  of  a  true 
theory,  and  are  not,  strictly  speaking,  its  basis  ;  for  the  basis 
itself  is  spiritual,  since  it  is  the  order  and  tenor  of  effects  that 
form  it,  and  not  the  matter.  The  principles  themselves  are 
eternal  truths, — the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever. 

"  There  are  cycles  in  all  things,  and  even  now  there  are 
some  indications  of  a  revival  of  medical  learning.  The  weak- 
ness of  the  present  state  of  things  is  perceived  by  those  who 
have  no  appreciation  of  its  barrenness ;  the  temper  of  the  pub- 
lic is  an  unmistakable  demonstration  to  this  effect.  Hence 
many  begin  to  revert  to  the  past,  and  laying  aside  for  a  moment 
the  vociferation  of  '  march  of  intellect '  and  '  progress  of  the 
species,*  they  are  content  to  march  and  progress,  like  the  crab, 
backwards,  and  to  claim  Hippocrates,  and  Galen,  and  Syden- 
ham as  their  fathers.     This  is  at  any  rate  so  far  good,  that  it 

13 


146 


swedenborg's  physiological  works. 


shows  how  a  forgotten  range  of  facts  and  an  antiquated  ter- 
minology may  be  re-acquired  as  soon  as  there  is  a  sufficient 
motive  :  nay,  it  nourishes  the  hope,  and  that  under  the  pres- 
sure from  without,  the  large  body  of  dependents,  if  not  the 
feudal  lords  of  science,  may  come  to  even  greater  and  more 
unexpected  results  than  these.  Who  shall  say  that  they  may 
not  ultimately  see  that  it  is  their  interest,  as  practitioners  of 
medicine,  to  deposit  their  cloak  of  mystification,  to  bring  to 
market  something  which  is  intelligible  and  useful  to  humanity, 
to  go  wherever  truth  leads  them,  even  though  that  truth  be 
*  stranger  than  fiction,'  and  to  come  to  our  Swedenborg  in  his 
double  character,  and  acknowledge  with  humble  thankfulness 
that  a  greater  than  a  Hippocrates  is  here — a  man  who  has 
married  practice  to  theory,  who  has  dissected  the  living  body 
without  destroying  it,  and  has  so  opened  the  sciences  of  anat- 
omy and  physiology,  that  they  must  sooner  or  later  become 
branches  of  human  education,  in  which  case  the  medical  pro- 
fession will  have  a  solid  basis  in,  the  social  world,  and  be  as  a 
golden  crown  of  wisdom  and  practice  resting  securely  upon 
the  correct  knowledge  and  common  sense  of  mankind. 

"  To  all  those  who  are  in  possession  of  truths  which  are  not 
recognized,  or  are  rejected,  by  the  systems  of  the  day,  the 
writings  of  Swedenborg  may  be  perfectly  invaluable.  Those 
writings  will  prevent  them  from  being  dependent,  in  any  de- 
partment of  reason,  upon  the  old  state  of  science.  They  will 
furnish  a  high  rallying  point  where  a  number  of  such  distinct 
truths  may  be  combined,  and  derive  that  strength  which  is  the 
result  of  union,  and  especially  of  the  union  of  truths.  They 
will  put  weapons  of  offence  and  defence  in  the  hands  of  causes 
which  are  now  repressed  almost  into  nothingness,  and  give 
power  to  those  who  are  strong  in  spirit,  yet  weak  in  body. 
They  will  add  force  to  faith,  and  sustain  the  earnest  soul 
through  the  day  of  small  things,  and  meanwhile  yield  it  a 
peaceful  delight,  prophetic  of  a  glorious  future.  To  all  such 
persons  these  writings  ought  to  be  as  glad  tidings,  and  should 
be  received  with  hearty  thankfulness,  and  a  determination  to 
lose  no  time  in  converting  them  to  use." 


VII. 

IMPORTANCE  OF   THE  PHYSICAL   AND   MINERr 
ALOGICAL   WORKS    OF   SWEDENBORa. 

83.   From  the  Parlor  Magazine^  No,    15,  August  9,  1851. 
Printed  in  the  Crystal  Palace,  London, 

On  the  Metallurgy  of  Iron.    By  Swedenborg. 

The  editor  commences  the   article  with  the  observation, 
"  Iron  is,  doubtless,  of  all  metals  the  most  important.     We 
may  almost  estimate  a  nation's  might  by  the  quantity  of  iron 
it  consumes.     In  fact,  the  whole  industry,  and,  consequently, 
the  whole  wealth  of  a  nation,  depends  upon  iron."     He  then 
dwells  upon  its  universality  and  innumerable  uses,  and  adds, 
that  "  notwithstanding  the  importance  of  this  product,  the  fab- 
rication of  iron  was  left  for  centuries  to  chance.     It  was  com- 
mitted to  the  hands  of  ignorant  and  uncultivated  workmen," 
&c,     "  No  mind  of  an  elevated  cast  chose  to  stoop  to  the  labors 
and  investigations  which  were  necessary  to  collect  the  details 
of  manipulations  so  majestic  as  a  whole,  but  apparently  so 
mean  and  trivial  when  viewed  apart.    There  was  only  existing 
one  single  work  in  which  any  information  on  the  subject  could 
be  obtained,  and  this,  too,  incomplete.     It  was  under  these 
circumstances  that  ther^  appeared  upon  the  stage  of  metal- 
lurgic  science — although,  alas  !  for  too  brief  a  moment — a  man 
whose  memory  has  been  immortalized  by  his  visionary  pursuits, 
whilst  his  solid  attainments  have  been  forgotten.     We  speak 
of  Swedenborg.     A  child  of  Sweden— which  seems  to  deserve 
pre-eminently  the  title  of  the  land  of  iron— his  thoughts  nat- 
urally turned  more  especially  towards   that  metal,  but  his 
original  idea  was  to  write  a  complete  history  of  metallurgy  in 
general."     There  now  follows  a  description  of  the  work,  and 
the  editor  resumes—"  Some  judgment  may  be  formed  of  the 
difficulties  he  had  to  encounter,  from  his  preflice,  of  which  I 

(147) 


148 


swedenborg's  physical 


shall  only  translate  a  single  passage,  curious  from  the  idea  it 
conveys  of  the  opinions  and  prejudices  of  that  day  on  the  mat- 
ter of  metallurgy ; — 

"  '  I  foresee/  said  Swedenborg,  '  that  there  will  not  be 
wanting  tliose  who  will  whisper  in  my  ear  that  the  modes  of 
fusion,  and  the  processes  of  extraction  in  divers  countries, 
which  have  been  discovered  through  the  labor  and  experience 
of  centuries,  ought  not  to  be  thus  lightly  divulged,  and  ren- 
dered familiar  to  the  world  at  large.  There  is  not  a  single 
class  of  metal  founders  who  do  not  possess  certain  secrets 
which  they  would  deem  it  a  crime  to  reveal.  These  they 
coDceal,  lest  they  should  be  imitated  by  their  companions,  over 
whom  they  triumph  in  a  sort  of  fancied  superiority.  There 
are  many  others,  in  a  higher  walk  of  life,  who  resemble  these 
in  every  respect,  who  also  have  no  desire  to  know  anything 
save  for  themselves,  and  who  like  to  be  considered  the  posses- 
sors and  keepers  of  a  secret.  There  is  nothing  in  which 
people  of  this  class  take  so  much  pleasure  as  in  withholding 
from  the  public  all  useful  information ;  and  if  anything  does 
happen  to  come  to  light  which  is  likely  to  forward  the  cause 
of  science,  they  look  upon  it  askance,  with  an  air  of  dissatis- 
faction, and  murmur  against  the  author  of  the  discovery,  as 
if  he  were  a  violator  of  a  secret. 

"  '  I  know  that  I  cannot  expect  to  be  viewed  in  a  kindly 
spirit  by  such  as  these,  for  this  reason :  that  persons  of  this 
class  would  think  themselves  less  wise,  if  their  neighbors  were 
as  much  so  as  themselves.  But  even  allowing  that  they  do 
possess  some  useful  secrets,  which  they  have  purchased  from 
those  who  look  upon  science  merely  as  an  article  of  traffic — is 
this  a  reason  why  such  knowledge  should  be  withheld  from 
adding  its  contribution  to  the  increasing  light  of  the  age  ?  All 
which  it  is  worth  while  to  know,  ought  to  be  published  in  the 
market-place  :  the  rights  of  man  demand  that  it  should  be  so  ; 
the  laws  of  the  republic  of  letters  require  it ;  for,  unless  we 
each  aid  to  the  advancement  of  science  and  the  progress  of 
industry,  until,  flourishing  more  and  more  each  year  beneath 
our  fostering  care,  they  attain  that  perfection  which  has  been 
desired  by  all  ages,  we  can  never  hope  to  become  wiser  or  hap- 
pier by  the  lapse  of  time. 


AND   MINERALOGICAL   WORKS. 


149 


«  '  The  longer  the  earth  is  the  scene  of  man's  abode,  the 
more  widely  the  power  of  thought  and  of  observation  is  ex- 
tended amongst  the  human  race  :  the  greater  the  number  of 
minds  which  multiply  upon  this  earth,  the  more  may  we  hope 
to  see  all  the  industrial  sciences  perfected,  and  to  witness  the 
growth  of  improvements  in  every  department  of  labor,  such 
as  we  have  been  favored  with  during  the  course  of  the  last 
century,  in  the  department  of  metallurgy  alone.' " 

Well  may  the  editor  exclaim—"  These  are,  assuredly,  noble 
words,  and  such  as  clearly  mark  Swedenborg's  presentiment  as 
to  the  future  influence  of  metallurgy  on  the  destiny  of  nations. 
We  may  seek  in  vain  in  all  the  authors  who,  before  his  time, 
treated  of  this  science,  for  views  thus  liberal  and  profound. 
Althou-h  written  more  than  a  century  ago,  one  might  almost 
ima-ine  these  words  to  be  an  utterance  of  our  day.  It  is  the 
disthictive  mark  of  most  great  minds  thus  to  speak  the  Ian- 
ffua-e  of  posterity ;  and  therefore  it  is,  that  whilst  m  their 
own^ge  they  are  too  often  reviled  or  misunderstood,  posterity 
treasures  up  their  sayings." 

84.  In  Mr.  G.  F.  Richardson's  useful  elementary  work, 
"  Geology  for  Beginners,  etc.,"  we  meet  with  the  following 
qualified  iesiimouy  to  the  genius  of  Swedenborg :-- 

"  The  celebrated  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  (1720,)  m  the  early 
part  of  his  career,  acquired  considerable  proficiency  in  the 
physical  sciences.     .     .     •     His  publication,  entitled  '  Opera 
Philosophica  et  Mineralogica,'  in  three  volumes  folio,  with 
numerous  engi^avings,  was  justly  regarded  as  a  most  extraor- 
dinary   performance.      On   its    appearance,    various   learned 
bodies  vied  with  each  other  in  electing  him  a  member  of  their 
respective  societies :   and  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Pans 
translated  into  the  French  language  for  their  Histoire  desArts 
et  des  Metiers,  his  Treatise  on  Iron  from  this  work,  as  afford- 
ing  the  most  valuable  authority  on  the  subject  then  extant. 
His  scientific  observations     .     .     .     contain  some  sound  pnn- 
ciples  and  instructive  facts  ;  and  the  nebular  theory  of  the  solar 
system,  the  original  fluidity  of  our  planet,  the  various  pre- 
paratory changes  of  the  earth,  as  opposed  to  the  prevailing 
idea  of  its  instantaneous  creation  in  its  present  matured  con 

13* 


150 


swedenborg's  physical 


dition  ;  the  succession  of  various  tribes  of  animals  ;  these,  with 
other  assertions,  the  truth  and  accuracy  of  which  has  been 
demonstrated  by  modern  science,  are  the  lights  which  shine 
through  the  misty  maze  of  superstition  and  absurdity  of  which 
his  productions  so  largely  consist.  [?]  It  may  incidentally  be 
noticed,  that  the  writings  of  this  extraordinary  man  evince  that 
he  was  also  acquainted  with  phrenology."  p.  63. 

85.  In  the  translation  of  Cramer* s  Elements  of  the  Art  of 
Assaying  Metals,  by  Dr.  Cromwell  Mortimer,  Secretary  to 
the  Royal  Society,  Swedenborg's  Work  on  the  Mineral  King- 
dom is  mentioned  by  the  translator  in  the  following  terms  : — 

"  For  the  sake  of  such  as  understand  Latin,  we  must  not 
pass  by  that  magnificent  and  laborious  work  of  Emanuel  Swe- 
denborg,  entitled  '  Principia,  etc.,'  in  the  second  and  third 
tomes  of  which  he  has  given  the  best  account,  not  only  of  the 
method  and  newest  improvements  in  metallic  works  in  all 
places  beyond  the  seas,  but  also  those  in  England,  and  in  our 
colonies  in  America,  with  draughts  of  the  furnaces  and  instru- 
ments employed.  It  is  to  be  wished  we  had  extracts  of  this 
work  in  English." 

86.  "  The  immense  essay  which  fills  the  first  volume  of  the 
*  Opera  Fhilosophica  et  Blineralogica*  excited  only  a  sort  of 
stupid  wonder  ;  but  the  practical  utility  of  the  two  other  vol- 
umes was  at  once  recognized  by  the  learned.  '  We  should 
never  be  able  to  finish,'  says  a  good  judge.  Prof.  Schleiden, 
'  if  we  should  attempt  to  enumerate  all  the  improvements  which 
Swedenborg  introduced  in  the  working  of  the  mines  of  his 
native  country,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  say  how  great 
were  his  merits  in  promoting  the  industry  and  the  arts  of 
Sweden.'  " — M.  Matter,  Vie  de  Swedenborg^  p.  40. 

87.  "  The  work  of  Swedenborg,  which  you  were  so  kind  as 
to  put  into  my  hands,  is  an  extraordinary  production  of  one  of 
the  most  extraordinary  men,  certainly,  that  has  ever  lived.  .  . 
This  much  I  can  truly  say,  that  the  air  of  mysticism  which  is 
generally  thought  to  pervade  Baron  Swedenborg's  ethical  and 
theological  writings,  has  prevented  philosophers  from  paying 


AND  MINERALOGICAL  WORKS. 


151 


sity  of  Pennsylvania,  in  a  leUer  to  Vr.  AUee. 

88    "In  the  'Principia'  Swedenborg  may  be  regarded  as 

to  the  future  still,  but  ever  smce  'l^;   "^^^^^ 

man  has  been  marching  up  to  it      Pl'l^^'  ^'re  the  produc- 

these  writings,  from  the  supposition  that  t'^^f    'hohrs    of  the 

r.  cun-    ViPnoe  the  ignorance  ot   schoiais,  ui 

tions  of  a  mystic ,    hence  lo  .      »_£.  Paxton 

writings   of  this  illustrious   man,  is  amazm,. 
BOOT)',  Life  of  Swedenborg,  p.  77. 

89    u  When  first  we  proposed  to  ourselves  a  thorough  and 
89.       W  nen  nr  *p  -^  •  -^  ^e  were  little  prepared  to 

r  ri^te  LlmenS  f2s  'and  principles,  forming  the 
find  *»*/"«  '"j;         .  of  sidereal  astronomy,  cosraog- 

„«c/eus  of  each  of  'he  sciences  discovered  and  elabor- 

"°^;  "^'-^Z^^^^^^  -Sle  work,  fully, 
ated  smce  his  time,  aie  to  oe  ^^^  ^^^_^ 

bas  ^'^^f^'lfJZToi  the  areas,  and  their  distribution 
tX  Jt'-delLn  to  man  by  his  breaking  through  the 


.These  cases  are  contained  in  Part  U.  of  the  present  volume. 


152 


SWEDENBORG*S   PHYSICAL 


enclosure  of  the  heaveus,  and  consequent  discovery  of  the  im- 
mensity of  creation  beyond  or  outside  the  visible  starry  firma- 
ment;    also    the    cognition   of    great   and    mighty   cosmical 
relations  and  forces,  made  known   to  man   by  his  theoretical 
discovery  of  the  fact,  that  there  are  no  fixed  stars,— that  the 
whole  starry  heaven  has  a  magnetic  course  along  the  milky 
way,  whilst  its  general  form,  and  also  that  of  the  hifinitude  of 
starry  firmaments  outside  our  own,  depend  on  the  developed 
perfection  and  general  form  of  the  magnetic  axis  or  inward 
stream  of  magnetic  force  flowing  through  the  interior  of  each 
firmament ;  these  have  furnished  ideas  of  Space  and  Force, 
so  mighty  and  enlarged,   and  withal  so  exhibiting  sublimity' 
beauty,  and  beneficence,  in  the  most  extensive  because  unlim- 
ited scale,  as  to  stand  unrivalled  by  any  other  in  the  human 
mind  which  have  as  yet  entered  therein."— Samdel  Beswick, 
the  learned  commentator  of    Stvedenborg's  '  Frincipia;  in  the' 
Intellectual  Bepository  of  1850,  p.  212. 

In  another  place  he   speaks  of  the  "  Principia  "  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner :  — 

^    ''  The  work  in  question  is  designated  '  Principia^  because 
m  It  the  author  explains  his  views  of  the  first  principles  of  the 
universe.     The  question  proposed  for  solution  is,  therefore,  the 
following :  —How  has  creation  issued  forth  from  the  Creator ; 
and  what  is  the  order  and  character  of  the  series  ?     This  the 
Principia  proposes  to  solve.     It  is  one  of  primary  importance, 
both   m  a  philosophical  and  religious  sense.      The  outbirth 
of  creation  is  a  question  involving  the  all  of  Science  and 
Phdosophy.     It  has  a  range  of  application  so  universal,  and 
so  utterly  beyond  the  sphere  of  human  observation  and  experi- 
ment, whilst  it  appears  to  present  a  demand  on  human  reason 
and  credulity  of  so  mighty  and  illimitable  a  character,  involv- 
mg  processes  and  cycles   of    processes,  that  it  would   seem 
more  a  mark  of  insanity  than  of  wisdom  to  attempt  its  solu- 
tion.    Many  there    are  of  the  best  and  wisest  of  men  whose 
highest  aspirations  in  the  regions   of  philosophy  have  been  to 
discover  this  grand   principium  of  all  our  philosophies.     It  is 
the  undiscovered  fountain   of  natural  truth,  by  whose  waters 
the  Muses  delight  to  dwell,  and  from  whence  stream  forth  con- 
tinuously and  in  plenitude  those  showers  of  scientific  truth 


AND  MINERALOGICAL  WORKS. 


153 


which,  in  the  history  of  man,  have  so  copiously  fallen  on  the 
successive  scenes  in  his  intellectual  progress.     As  an  attempted 
solution,  Swedenborg  has  offered  us  his  Pr^nc^p^a      In    his 
work,  therefore,  he  proposes  to  explain  the  outbirth  of  Creation 
from  the  Infinite,  and  to  trace  the   steps  of  each  successive 
substance  and  attendant  process  of  formation  and   develop- 
ment, from  the  first  living  force,  through  the  elemental  world, 
until  he  arrives  at  the  solid  and  inert  substances  and  matters 
of  which  the  earths  in  the  universe  consist.     And  it  is  worthy 
of  remark,  that  every  subsequent  discovery  has  done  some- 
thing, more  or  less,  towards  the  confirmation  of  his  views. 
Throughout  the  long  course  of  his  experience     •     •     •     '    j'® 
never  once  cast  aside  his  Principia,  or  renounced  the  funda- 
mental  doctrines,  formula,  or  first  principles,  by  which  he  was 
guided  in  his  youthful  investigations.      From  the  first  he  ap- 
pears  to  have  seen  clearly,  and  to  have  marked  out   its  broad 
outline,  the  path  which  subsequently  led  him,  like  Columbus, 
to  a  region  of  undiscovered  truth,  unsurpassed  (world-wide  as 
the  extent  of  human  knowledge  now  is)  in  richness,  beauty, 
and  fruitfulness.     From  the  first  he  appears  to  have  discovered 
those  new  methods  by  which  he  made  his  new  attempts  at  a  phil- 
osophical explanation  of  the  universe ;  and  which  constituted 
a  new  guide,  by  which  he  soared  higher  and  penetrated  far 
beyond  the  limits  of  previous  investigation."— In^eWeduaZ  Ee^ 
pository,  1850,  pp.  250-51. 


90     From  the    ''Journal  Encyclopedique,''    Sept,    1 

Vol.  VI.  Part  2. 


1785, 


Remarks  by  the  Marquis  De  Thome,  on  an  asseHion  of  the 
Commissioners  appointed  hy  the  King  of  France  for  the  exam- 
ination of  Animal  Magnetism. 

"  Gentlemen, — 

"In  the  report  of  the  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
Kino-  for  the  examination  of  animal  magnetism,  these  gentle- 
men\ave  affirmed  that  there  does  not  yet  exist  any  theory  of 
the  ma-net.  This  assertion  has  occasioned  many  remon- 
Btrances°    and  I  shall  here  make  one,  and,  as  I  think,  the  most 


154 


SWEDENBORG*S   PHYSICAL 


just  of  any,  in  favor  of  an  illustrious  man  of  learning,  some 
years  since  deceased.     Three  folio  volumes  were  printed  at 
Dresden  and  Leipsic,  in  1734,  under  the  following  title  :  Eman- 
uelis  Swedenhorgii  Opera  PhilosopMca  et  Mineralia.     The  first 
of  these  volumes  is  entirely  devoted  to  a  sublime  theory  of  the 
formation  of  the  world,  founded  on  that  of  the  magnetic  ele- 
ment ;  the  existence,   form,  and  mechanism  of  which  are  de- 
monstrated by  the  author  from  experience,  geometry,  and  the 
most  solid  reasoning  founded  on   these  two  bases.     The  sub- 
ject of  the  other  volumes,  being  foreign  to  that  of  this  letter, 
I  shall  content  myself  with  saying,  that  in  the  whole  of  the 
work,  there  is  such  an  abundance  of  new  truths,  and  of  phys- 
ical, mathematical,  astronomical,  mechanical,  chemical,  and 
mineralogical  knowledge,  as  would  be  more  than  sufficient  to 
establish  the  reputation  of  several  different  writers.     Accor- 
dingly, he  acquired  so  much  fame  by  its  publication,  that  the 
Academy  of  Stockholm  hastened  to  invite  him  to  become  one 
of  its  members.     This  production  of  the  Swedish  philosopher 
has  continued  to  maintain  the  same  degree  of  esteem  in  all 
Europe,  and  the  most  celebrated  men  have  not  disdained  to 
draw  materials  from  it  to  assist  them  in  their  labors ;  some, 
too,  have  had  the  weakness  to  dress  themselves  in  the  feathers 
of  the  peacock,  without  acknowledging  where  they  obtained 
them.     On  reading  the  paragraph  in  the  first  volume,  page 
387,  entitled  Be    Chao    Universali   SoUs  et  Planetarum,  deque 
separatione  ejus  in  Planetas  et  Satellites ;  and  that  at  page  438, 
De  progressione  Telluris  a  sole  ad  Orhitam,  it  will  be  seen  how 
much  the  Count  de  Buffon  was  mistaken  in  saying,  in  his  dis- 
course on  the  formation  of  the  planets,  that  nothing  had  ever 
been  written  on  this  subject ;  and  it  will  doubtlessly  be  regret- 
ted, that  the  French  Pliny  has  not  profited  by  the  discoveries 
of  the  Stockholm  Academician,  who,  whilst  he  equals  him  in 
point  of  style,  is  infinitely  superior  to  him  in  everything  else. 
A  cursory  perusal  of  the  first  volume,  will  also  be  sufficient  to 
repress  our  astonishment  at  the  experiments  of  M.  Lavoisier, 
Swedenborg  having  already  shown,  that  earth  and  water  are 
not  to  be  regarded  as  elements,  nor  elements  as  simple  sub- 
stances.    I  should  forbear  to  add  that  M.  Camus,  who  has 
performed  such  surprising  things  with  the  magnet  before  our 


AND  MINERALOGICAL  WORKS. 


155 


eyes,  admits  that  he  has  derived  from  this  author  almost  aU 
the  knowledge  that  he  has  exhibited  on  this  subject,  and,  in 
short,  that  without  having  studied  him,  our  acquaintance  with 
magnetism  must  be  very  imperfect ;  —I  say,  I  should  forbear 
to  mention  this  if  the  commissioners  appointed  by  his  Majesty 
to  examine  animal  magnetism  had  not  affirmed,  that  there  as 
yet  exists  no  theory  of  the  magnet.     How  can  this  assertion  be 
reconciled  with  the  authentic  and  positive  fact  I  have  now 
stated  ?    The  farther  one  is  from  imagining  that  such  a  declara- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  academicians  and  physicians  can  be 
the  result  of    haste,  of  ignorance,  or  of  partiality,  the  more 
difficult  the  thing  becomes.     Are  we  not  to  believe,  that,  to 
acquit  themselves  worthily  of  their  commission,  and  to  justify 
as  they  ought  the  confidence  with  which  the  sovereign  has 
honored  them,  they  would  neglect  nothing  that  could  contribute 
to  make  them  perfect  masters  of  the  question  of  animal  mag- 
netism, and  enable  them  to  decide  upon  it,  and  that  they  would 
accordingly  read  and  consider  everything  which  has  hitherto 
been  published  on  the  subject :  at  least  everything  that  has 
proceeded  from  the  pen  of  the  most  celebrated  naturahsts  ? 
The  work  which  has  occasioned  this  remonstrance,  being  with- 
out contradiction  the  most  complete  and  profound  of  all,  ought 
principally   to    have   fixed   their    attention;    and   this   bemg 
granted,  the  saying  of  the  commissioners,  that  there  does  not 
yet  exist  any  theory  of  the  magnet,— that  is,  that  nothing  which 
has  yet  appeared  is  to  be  regarded  as  such,— is  saying  that  the 
theory  of  Swedenborg  is  none  at  all ;  that  a  theory  demon- 
strated  by  experiment,  geometry,  and  reasoning,  and  m  agree- 
ment  with  them  all,  is  not  a  theory.     Such,  I  believe,  is  the 
exact  amount  of  the  assertion  of  the  commissioners,  which, 
therefore,  it  remains  for  them  to  prove. 

"  I  shall  now  proceed  to  enable  the  public  to  declare,  whether 
the  Swedish  philosopher  was  not  most  intimately  persuaded, 
that,  in  natural  philosophy,  every  theory  which  is  not  sup- 
ported by  experience  and  geometry  ought  to  be  regarded  as 
cliimerical.  In  the  first  page  of  the  first  volume,  he  thus  explains 
his  views  on  this  subject :  '  Qui  finem  vult,  &c.  He  who 
wishes  to  attain  an  end,  must  also  wish  to  acquire  the  means. 
Now  these  are  the  means  which  more  especially  lead  to  knowl- 


156 


swedenborg's  physical 


AND   MINERALOGTCAL   WORKS. 


157 


edge  truly  philosophical ;  experience,  geometry,  and   the  fac- 
ulty of  reasoning/     In  the  following  page  he  insists,  in  these 
terms  :  '  Magna  quidem,  &c.     Arduous  is  the  attempt  to  ex- 
plain philosophically  the  hitherto  secret  operations  of  elemen- 
tal nature,  far  removed,  and  almost  hidden  from  our  view.     I 
must  endeavor  to  place,  as  it  were,  before  the  eyes,  those  phe- 
nomena which  she  herself  is   careful  to  conceal,  and  of  which 
she  seems  most  averse  to  the  investigation.     In  such  an  ocean 
I  should  not  venture  to  spread  my  sail,  without  having  experi- 
ence and  geometry  continually  present  to  direct  the  hand  and 
watch  the  helm.     With  these  to  assist   and  direct  me,  I  may 
hope  for  a  prosperous  voyage  over  the  trackless  deep.     These 
shall  be  my  two  stars  to  guide  me  in  my  course,  and  light  me 
on  my  way  ;  for  of  these  do  we  stand  most  in  need  in  the 
thick  darkness  which  involves  both  elemental  nature  and  the 
human   mind.'     At  page   184  of  the   same  volume,  he  says, 
again,    '  Nisi  principiorum,   &c.      Unless   our   principles  be 
geometrically   and   mechanically  connected  with   experience, 
they  are  mere  hallucinations  and  idle  dreams.'     Behold,  fur- 
ther, how  he  establishes  that  even  elemental  nature  is  under  the 
government  of  geometry,  and  always  like  herself  in  the  little 
as  well  as  the  great ;  a  principle  which  opens  to  the  human 
mind  an  infinite  career,  and  puts   us  in   the  route  which  it  is 
necessary  to  take  to  arrive  at  all  possible  discoveries  :  '  Natura 
enim,   &c.      Elementary  nature   (says  he)  is  a  motive  power 
variously  modified ;  a  motive  power  variously  modified,  is  a 
system  of  mechanism  ;  a  system  of  mechanism  is  geometry  in 
action,  for  it  must  needs  be  geometrical :  geometry  is  the  attri- 
bute of  a  certain  substance  possessing  figure  and  space  :  as, 
then,  geometry  is  the  attribute  of  a  substance,  and  thus  is  in- 
separable from  every  substance,  whether  simple  or  compound, 
either  in  motion  or  rest,  and  from  motion  itself,  it  accompanies 
nature  from  its  first  origin  and  rudiments,  from  its  least  form 
to  its  greatest,  through  the  whole  world :  and  as  geometry  is 
the  same  in  the  greatest  substance  as  in  the  least,  hence  nature, 
being  a  motive  and  modified  power,  being  mechanical  and 
geometrical,  is  exactly  like  herself  in  each  extreme  ;  that  is, 
towards  each  infinite  of  smallness  or  greatness,   &c.'  p.  121. 
The  question  then  is,  whether  Swedenborg  has  proceeded  ac- 


cording- to  these  principles  ?     This  question  all  naturalists  and 
geometricians  are  invited  to  determine  :  and  when  they  have 
a-reed  on  their  determination,  which  will  certainly  be  m  con- 
fo'rmity  with  what  I  have  advanced,  they  will  unanmiously 
admit,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  that  the  theory  of  the  Swedish 
author  is  a  true  theory  of  the  magnet,  and  of  all  magnetism ; 
that  it  proves  incontestably  the  existence  of  the  magnetic  ele- 
ment ;  that  it  proves  further,  that  the  particles  of  this  element 
beincr  spherical,  the  tendency  of  their  motion,  in  consequence 
of  this  form,  is  either  spiral  or  vortical,  or  circular  ;  that  each 
of  these  motions  requiring  a  centre,  whenever  these  particles 
meet  with  a  body,  which,  by  the  regularity  of  its  pores,  the 
configuration  and  the  position  of  its  parts,  is  adapted  to  their 
motion,  they  avail  themselves  of  it,  and  form  around  it  a  mag- 
netical  vortex  ;  that,  consequently,  every  body  which  has  such 
pores,  and  such  a  configuration  and  position  of  its  parts,  may 
become  the  centre  of  such  a  vortex ;  that  if  this  body  has  an 
activity  of  its  own,  if  its  parts  are  flexible,  and  if  its  motion 
is  similar  to  that  of  the  particles,  it  will  be  so  much  the  more 
disposed  to  admit  them,  &c.,  &c. ;  whence  it  follows,  that  mag- 
netical  substances  are  such  merely  by  virtue  of  the  element 
whose  existence  Swedenborg  has  demonstrated,  and  thus  that 
the  maouetism  of  bodies  depends,  not  on  their  substance,  but 
on  their  form :  —a  truth  which  is  hinted   at  by  the  learned 
Alstedius  in  his  excellent  Encyclopaedia,  printed  at  Lyons  in 
1649,  in  which,   drawing  a   comparison  between  electricity 
and  magnetism,  he  says,  '  Moiiones  dedriccB  a  materia,  mag- 
neticoe  vero  a  forma  peyidentJ 

"  To  ascertain  the  influence  of  the  magnetic  element  on  the 
question  of  animal  magnetism,  suppose  we  apply  the  result  of 
the  summary  view  that  I  have  given  of  it  to  the  three  king- 
doms  of  nature.  It  will  be  easy  to  conviuce  ourselves,  that 
of  these,  the  mineral  kingdom  is  the  least  favorable  to  this  ele- 
ment, by  reason  of  its  inertness,  of  the  irregularities  of  its 
pores,  of  its  angular  forms,  and  of  the  rigidity  of  its  parts  : 
'hence,  were  it  not  for  iron  and  the  loadstone,  magnetism  would 
be  almost  entirely  banished  from  this  kingdom.  Proceeding 
to  the  vegetable,  we  may  easily  perceive  that  its  more  regular 
pores,  its  rounder  forms,  its  more  flexible  parts,  the  sphere  of 

14 


158 


swedenborg's  physical 


activity,  which  results  from  its  organization,  and  from  the  cir- 
culation which  takes  place  within  it,  offer  much  greater  facil- 
ities to  the  operations  of  the  magnetical  fluid.  Arriving  at 
the  animal  kingdom,  which  is  the  quintessence  of  them  all,  as 
being  more  rich  in  volatile  spirits,  and  approaching  thereby- 
more  nearly  to  elemental  nature,  and  which  is  gifted  more 
eminently,  according  to  the  perfection  of  its  organs,  with  the 
same  advantages  which  we  have  just  observed  in  the  ve^^e- 
table  kingdom  ; — we  find  that  this  kingdom,  by  the  exalted  life 
of  some  of  its  subjects,  is  clearly  the  most  active  centre  that 
the  magnetic  element  can  lay  hold  of ;  and  as,  besides,  it  pre- 
sents it  in  the  abundance  of  its  fluids,  in  its  circular  vessels 
and  veins,  and  in  its  spiral  fibres,  with  nothing  but  analogous 
forms,  of  an  extreme  flexibility  and  capacity  of  motion,  we 
cannot  but  conclude,  that  this  is  a  kingdom  which  favors  in 
the  highest  degree  the  admission  of  this  element.  To  avoid 
exceeding  the  limits  of  your  journal,  I  omit,  gentlemen,  an 
infinity  of  things  which  I  might  here  mention  in  support  of 
these  truths ;  amongst  which  I  should  include  the  respiration 
of  animals,  their  hunger,  their  thirst,  their  loves,  the  functions 
of  their  absorbent  and  resorbent  pores, — phenomena  which, 
well  analyzed,  would  be  so  many  proofs  of  the  existence  of 
animal  magnetism,  and  would  evince  that,  in  reality,  animals 
are  nothing  but  living  magnets. 

"  Let  me  not,  however,  for  what  I  have  here  said,  be  sus- 
pected of  being  a  disciple  of  the  too  celebrated  Dr.  Mesmer. 
Believing  with  him  in  animal  magnetism,  the  existence  of  which 
has  long  since  been  as  evident  to  me  as  that  of  the  sun,  if  I 
intended  to  make  use  of  it,  it  would  be  in  a  manner  totally 
different  from  his  ;  as  I  find  in  M.  Mesmer's  mode  many  things 
that  are  not  only  vicious  in  point  of  morals,  but  also  very  dan- 
gerous in  a  physical  respect.  For  want  of  knowing  what 
Swedenborg  has  said  respecting  forms,  series,  degrees,  corres- 
pondences, and,  above  all,  respecting  the  element  of  man  and 
human  spheres,  this  physician  has  abandoned  himself  to  a 
blind  practice,  the  effects  of  which,  sometimes  good,  as  of\en 
bad,  and  most  frequently  none  af  all,  fully  evince  either  the 
incapacity  of  the  practitioner,  or  the  inefficiency  of  his  remedy. 
But  to  learn  in  what  M.  Mesmer  is  deficient,  it  will  not  suffice 


AND   MINERALOGICAL  WORKS. 


159 


to  have  read  the  work  which  I  have  just  been  describmg  but 
vill  also  be  necessary  to  be  acquainted  with  most  of  those 
.vhich  follow  it :  for  the  indefatigable  Swede  contmued  to  write 
upon  the  most  difficult  and  abstract  subjects,  and,  what  is  pecu- 
liar to  himself,  he  always  possessed  the  art  of  enabling  all  his 
readers  to  understand  them,  by  the  method,  precision,  and 
clearness  with  which  he  conducted  the  discussion. 

"Since  an  opportunity  here  offers  to  speak  of  his  -orks, 
permit  me.  gentlemen,  to  avail  myself  of  it,  to  disabuse  the 
Jublic  respecting  the  bad  impressions  which  have  been  at- 
tempted to  be  imposed  on  it  concerning  this  great  man.     Prior 
0  hi  Opera  PhUosopMca  et  Mineralia,  he  had  written  on  almost 
i  the  Sciences.     Amongst  others  was  his  work  on  Algebra, 
entitled.  The  Art  of  the  Rules ;  a  new  method  to  find  the  on- 
Sde  by  land  and  by  sea,  by  the  aid  of  the  moon  ;  another 
for  the  trial  of  new  ships,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. ;  not  to  men  ion  some 
literary  productions  which  were   the  first  essays  of  a  youth 
which  had  been  employed  in  learning  the  principal  living  Ian- 
gua^es  of  Europe,  and  all   the  dead  ones.     He  was  so  wel 
versed  in  the  latter,  particularly  in  Latin,   and  J-  Oriental 
lancrua-es,  that  he  was  consuUed  by  those  who  made  the  study 
of  ^them  their  particular  profession.      Posterior  to  the  year 
1734.  we  have  of  his.  The  Animal  Kingdom;  The  Economy  of 
this  Kingdom ;  An  Essay  on-  the  Infinite,  the  Final  Cause  of 
Creation,  and  the  Mechanism  of  the   Operatwn  of  fe^o^l  and 
Body  ;  with  a  poem  on  The  Birth  of  the  Globe  and  that  of  the 
Fir't  Man  ;  works  which  are  above  all  praise.     But  what  shall 
we^say  of  his  theosophical  treatises,  where  the  greatest  secrets 
are  revealed  without  emblem  and  allegory  ;  where  the  science 
of  correspondences,  which  has  been  lost  for  near  four  thousand 
years,  and  of  which  the  hieroglyphics  of  Egypt  were  but  use- 
less  monuments  and  relics,  is  again  restored?  I  will  say  that 
a  perusal  can  alone  give  any  idea  of  them  ;  that  the  more  the 
principles,  equally  new  and  fertile,  which  are  accumulated  in 
these  works,  are  reflected  on,  the  more  they  are  applied  to 
nature,  to  ourselves,  to  everything  that  can  beconie  an  objec 
of  our  thoughts  and  affections,  the  more  clearly  the  truth  will 
shine,  the  more  we  shall  be  compelled  to  pay  homage  to  the 
superiority  of  enlightenment  [lumieres]  which  has  given  them 


160 


swedenborg's  physical 


AND  MINERALOGICAL  WORKS. 


161 


birth,  and  to  acknowledge  in  them  the  evidences  of  a  wisdom 
more   than   human.      .      .      .     (Here   follows   our   extract 
n.  16.)  ' 

"  This,  gentlemen,  is  what  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  make 
public  for  the  benefit  of  society,  from  a  regard  of  truth,  and 
in  gratitude  to  him  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  the  major  part 
of  the  little  that  I  know  ;  though,  before  I  met  with  his  writ- 
ings, I  had  sought  for  knowledge  amongst  all  the  writers, 
ancient  and  modern,  who  enjoyed  any  reputation  for  possessin^^ 
it.  ° 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c., 

"Marquis  De  Thome." 
*' Paris,  Aug.  4,  1785." 

91.  Balzac,  in  his  "  Seraphita'' *  gives  the  following  in- 
teresting account  of  the  occasion  which  called  forth  the'^pre- 
ceding  article  of  the  Marquis  de  Thome ;  he  says  : 

"  The  Marquis  de  Thome,  by  calling  the  commission  ap- 
pointed by  the  King  for  the  investigation  of  magnetism  to  ac- 
count for  some  expressions  wliich  had  escaped  them,  procured 
great  honor  to  the  name  of  Swedenborg  in  the  controversy 
which  had  arisen  in  Paris  in  the  year  1785,  on  the  subject  of 
animal  magnetism,  in  which  controversy  almost  all  the  scien- 
tific men  of  Europe  took  part.     The  commission,  namely,  had 
declared  that  up  to  the  present  time   there  existed  no  theory 
of  the  natural  magnet,  while  the  Marquis  proved  that  such  a 
theory  had  been  propounded  by  Swedenborg  as  early  as  the 
year  1720.     The  Marquis  at  the  same  time  showed  the  reason 
why  the  most  celebrated   scientific  men  suffered  Swedenboro- 
to  remain  in  oblivion,  to  be  this,  that  they  wished  secretly  to 
adorn  themselves  with   the  feathers   stolen  from  his  hidden 
treasures  ;  wherein  he  especially  alluded  to  Buflfon's  theory  of 
cosmogony.     In  short,  by  many  quotations  taken  from  Swe- 
denborg's  encyclopaedic  works,  he   succeeded  in  establishing 
the  complete  proof,  that  this  great  seer  was  far  in  advance  of 


the  slow  course  of  the  human  sciences.     In  order  to  convince 
tur  elf  of  this  you  need  but  read  his  philosophical  and  mm- 
Stal  dissertations.     So   he  is  the  precursor  of  modern 
cremistry  by  announcing  in  a  passage  that  all  the  products  of 
trnU nature  are  decomposable,  an'd  that  water,  air,  fire, 
SbTno  means  elemental  substances.     In  another  place    m 
rvery  few  words,  he   enters  into  the  deepest  mysteries  of 
L;TtismTand  thus  deprives  Mesmer  of  the  honor  of  first 
discovery." 


♦In  the   edition  pubhshed    by  Hallberger,   in    Stuttgart. 
p.  99. 


183G. 


VIIL 


SWEDENBORG'S  PHILOSOPHY. 


92.     From  the  Critic,  1847. 

"  SwEDENBORG  was,  Specially  in  these  modern  times,  the 
man  of  iutuitiou  ;  this  to  him  was  genius,  or  more  than  genius. 
.  .  .  .  Along,  however,  with  his  boundless  prodigality  of 
intuition,  there  were  the  keenest  powers  of  observation,  uncom- 
mon skill  in  seizing  and  grouping  facts,  and  in  penetrating 
them  with  the  significance  of  his  own  intellect.  The  difference 
between  the  great  poet  and  the  great  philosopher  is,  that  the 
poet  absorbs  the  universe  and  its  forms  into  himself,  while  the 
philosopher  puts  himself  forth  into  the  universe  and  its  forms. 
The  poet  seeks  to  be  identical  with  the  infinite  by  appropria- 
tion, the  philosopher  by  emanation  ;  and  by  the  power  of 
appropriation  in  the  one  case,  and  by  that  of  emanation  in  the 
other,  must  the  worth  of  every  poet  and  of  every  philosopher 
be  measured.  Swedeuborg  was  therefore  eminently  a  philos- 
opher, since  he  had  eminently  the  energy  of  giving  the  forms 
of  the  universe  to  his  own  spirit.  Much  of  modern  pliilosophy 
consists  in  a  process  as  remote  as  possible  from  this, — in 
stamping,  namely,  the  impress  of  the  beholder  on  the  forms  of 
the  universe  that  he  contemplates,  which  is  equivalent  to  the 
substitution  of  a  human  form  for  a  form  divine  ;  and,  conse- 
quently, philosophy  such  a  process  cannot,  without  flagrant 
inaccuracy,  be  called,  since  the  philosopher  himself  takes  the 
place  of  the  sole  object  of  philosophy.  Hence  a  philosophy 
of  this  kind  ever  inevitably  ends  where  it  began — in  a  barren 
and  monotonous  repetition  of  a  self-beholding,  whose  natural 
result  is  a  huge  and  hateful  self-glorification.  Yet  those  who 
pursue  philosophy  after  a  fashion  so  unphilosophic,  seem  to 
the  multitude  the  only  philosophers,  since  it  is  they  alone  that 

(1G2) 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


163 


appear  to  work  revolutions  in  philosophy.     To  transform  will 
always  show  to  the  uudiscerning  eye  a  mightier  operation  than 
to  transfuse,  since  it  is  marked  by  far  more  external  change. 
Descartes  was  the  most  memorable  of  the  transforming  philos- 
ophers.     He  burst,  consequently,  into  immediate   celebrity. 
His  was  no  tiresome  march  to  wide  and  fulgent  glory.     Des- 
cartes was  a  Frenchman  ;  and  if  we  were  to  call  French  philos-' 
ophy  by  one  word  more  applicable  than  another,  we  should 
name  it  the  transforming  philosophy.     We  cannot  say  abso- 
lutely and  without  qualification  that  Swedenborg  was  the  most 
memorable  of  the  transfusing  philosophers  ;   but  if  not  the 
foremost  of  all,  he  stands  in  the  first  rank.     Much,  however, 
as  this  may  recommend  him  to  the  earnest  and  the  truly  phdo- 
sophic,  it  has  been  an  immense  obstacle  to  the  diffusion  of  his 
fame  and  the  extension  of  his  influence.     Because   its  scien- 
tific ideas  have  accomplished  no  striking  transformations,  we 
have  either  been  unconscious  of  their  presence  or  ignorant  of 
their  import." 

93.  The  following  pages  on  the  nature  of  Swedenborg's 
Philosophy  are  quoted  from  Dr.  J.  J.  Garth  Wilkinson's 
Introductory  Remarks  to  the  English  translation  of  Sweden- 
borg's  '-Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom"  : 

"We  may  premise,  that  although  we  call  these  works  of 
Swedenborg  scientific  (deriving  the  name  from  the  basis  they 
rest  upon,  and  the  limits  they  observe),  yet  they  are  properly 
philosophical  also,  since  they  rise  through  the  particular  sciences 
to  that  universal  science  which  alone  is  philosophy.  For  as 
the  physical  doctrines  of  Swedenborg  are  the  reconciliation,  or 
at-one-ment  of  philosophy  with  science,  so  these  works  may  be 
designated  from  ehher  term  ;  let  it  only  be  borne  in  mind,  that 
they°are  not  philosophical  in  any  sense  in  which  philosophy  is 
considered  independent  of  physical  science ;  nor  scientific,  so 
far  as  science  is  not  permitted  to  obtain  light  and  life  from  real 

philosophy. 

»  The  compound  relation  of  the  two  fields  of  science  and 
philosophy  is  a  remarkable  feature  in  these  works  ;  and  the  more 
so,  as  Swedenborg  is  the  only  writer  in  whose  hands  the  mat- 
ter of  the  sciences,  and  the  way  of  induction,  legitimately 


164 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


engeuder  philosophical  ideas.  Other  writers  have  proposed 
the  same  result,  but  he  alone  has  attained  it.  Notwithstand- 
inir  which  he  avoids  the  error  of  derivin^r  the  hi^^her  kuowledjre 
from  the  lower,  or  making  the  senses  govern  the  mind ;  for 
he  uses  the  sciences  but  for  steps  to  lead  to  the  upper  rooms 
of  the  intellect,  and  allows  every  faculty  its  distinct  exercise, 
at  the  same  time  admitting  all  experience,  to  whatever  faculty 
it  may  appeal.  While  he  gives  a  scientific  foundation  for 
fahh,  it  is  by  the  energy  of  an  enlightened,  and,  for  the  most 
part,  a  new  faith  disposing  the  sciences.  He  moves  and  works 
according  to  the  matter  supplied  by  general  and  universal 
experience,  and  revelation  is  as  much  this  matter  in  one  sphere 
as  the  phenomena  of  the  mind  in  another,  and  nature  in  a 
third.  The  soundest  ideas  of  method  are  illustrated  in  his 
writings  ;  and,  according  to  that  shrewd  saying  of  the  reputed 
father  of  induction,  that  '  the  art  of  discovery  will  increase 
with  discoveries  themselves,'  Swedenborg  has  taught  us,  by  a 
legible  and  grand  example,  the  most  perfect  manner  of  elimi- 
nating the  higher  sciences.  Yet  he  differs  from  Bacon  in  wiiat 
he  has  done  and  proposed,  and  also  in  the  proportion  that  sub- 
sists between  his  intentions  and  executions.  For  he  has  sub- 
stantially connected  the  organic  sciences  with  philosophy  and 
morality ;  so  that  body  and  soul  are  no  longer  two,  but  are  in 
their  harmonies.  A  breadth,  height  and  continuity  of  use, 
unsuspected  by  physiologists,  are  shown  to  pervade  the  me- 
chanic frames  of  living  beings ;  the  new  uses  being  demon- 
strated. The  qualities  of  things  are  definitely  showm,  where 
the  recognition  of  the  things  themselves  was  the  last  result  of 
the  former  analysis.  Many  of  the  '  forms  *  or  essential  causes 
whifh  Bacon  sought  by  an  operose  calculus,  came  to  Sweden- 
borg with  direct  force  as  natural  truths,  and  the  consequence 
is,  that  in  important  principles  his  works  are  a  hundred-fold 
more  fruitful  than  those  of  the  English  philosopher.  In  wit 
and  brilliancy  of  style  the  latter  is  indeed  without  a  rival ;  his 
eminence  in  these  respects  is  such  as  beseems  the  great  critic 
of  two  thousand  years  ;  yet  in  their  degree  such  qualities  would 
have  been  out  of  place  in  the  writings  of  Swedenborg,  which 
deal,  not  with  the  opinions  of  man,  but  with  the  works  of 
nature ;  and  point  to  inward  truths,  and  prepare  the  mind  for 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


165 


their  pursuit  by  simplicity  of  manner  ;  whereas  it  is  somewhat 
fViscinated,  not  to  say  detained  in  the  lower  sphere,  by  the 
eccentric  piquancy  of  the  Baconian  ornament.     Neither  has 
Swedenborg  written  with  a  primary  regard  to  the  economical 
or  civil '  endowment  of  human  life,'  with  new  arts  and  inven- 
tions, but  for  the  reformation  of  man   and  his  mind,  as  the 
spring  of  all  wholesome  changes  and  successful  operations. 
Accordingly   he  gives  no  bond   to  reconstruct  society;    nor 
professes  "to  be  able  to  drag  the  secrets  of  truth  into  day  by  an 
unerring  or  mechanical  method;  but  having  obtained  a  suffi- 
ciency of  doctrinal  instruments  for  present  use,  and  mindful 
that  active  life  is  the  best  lot  of  man,  and  the  finest  means  of 
improvement,  he  builds  such  an  edifice  as  his  materials  and 
opportunities  permit,  and  arrives  at  such  an  end  as  a  good 
man  may  be  satisfied  with.     The  perfecting  of  instruments  he 
knows  must  be  successive,  but  that  the  use  of  them  must  not 
be  postponed,  and  therefore  he  lays  out  his  possessions  to  the 
best  advantage,  in  the  confidence  that  this  is  the  true  way  to 
benefit  posterity.     Only  a  small  part  of  his  works  is  devoted  to 
explaining  his  method,  but  its  successful  application  is  seen 
everywhere,  and  the  results  elicited  show  what  it  is,  and  how 
well  it  has  been  used.     He  is  therefore  small  in  pretension  and 
oreat  in  performance;  his   works  not  being  an  organon  for 
generating  knowledge,  but  natural  knowledge  itself  in  its  own 

organic  form. 

"  The  paramount  success  of  Swedenborg  with  his  simple 
apparatus,  should  tend  to  discourage  exclusive  attention  to  the 
means  of  knowledge  ;  though  indeed  we  may  also  gather  the 
same  lesson  from  the  history  of  failures.  It  is  certain  that  the 
organon  of  Aristotle,— the  framework  of  syllogistic  logic,— has 
distrau-ht  the  intellect  from  the  nature  of  things,  rather  than 
helped  their  comprehension  ;  for  it  is  a  gymnasium,  at  the  en- 
trance to  which  we  are  required  to  know  less  by  art  than  the 
mind  itself  knows  at  once  by  experience,  by  virtue  of  its  own 
construction.  The  organon  of  Bacon  is  liable  to  the  same 
reproof,  although  it  is  of  seemingly  opposite  tendency  ;  for  it 
is  as  inefficient  in  physics  as  that  of  Aristotle  in  metaphysics, 
and  is  in  fiict  but  a  new  incumbrance  to  the  mind.  It  is,  how- 
ever, but  fair  to  allow,  that  Bacon  did  not  assert  its  absolute 


166 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


167 


necessity  in  all  cases,  but  rather  proposed  it  as  a  school  in 
which  prejudices  and  '  idols'  of  various  kinds  might  be  dispos- 
sessed of  their  authority,  and  the  eyes  be  unsealed,  and  the 
mind  prepared  by  a  negative  process  for  closing  with  nature.* 
Still  in  Swedenborg  we  have  a  brighter  light  on  this  subject, 
and  we  can  fully  assert  to  the  ftxct,  that  '  the  mind  itself,  in  its 
own  nature,  is  philosopliical,'  f  and  that  when  we  can  raise  up 
materials  into  its  sphere  of  operations,  they  receive  all  the 
formation,  information  and  analysis  which  any  method  is  pre- 
sumed to  impart.  It  would  therefore  appear  that  no  organon 
is  of  use  to  supply  the  nature  of  the  mind,  but  only  to  lift  up 
matter  to  its  ken,  and  there  to  proffer  and  leave  it.  To  this 
office  Swedenborg  confines  his  organon,  viz.,  the  doctrine  of 
series  and  degrees,  and  the  mathematical  philosophy  of  univer- 
sal ;  the  former  being  the  orderly  or  natural  means  of  raising 
experience  to  the  intelligible  sphere  ;  the  latter,  the  means  of 
expressing,  by  new  symbols,  those  analytic  results  in  the  higher 
spheres  which  are  inexpressible  by  ordinary  language.     For 


♦  "This  passage  is  so  illustrative  of  our  present  argument,  that  we 
give  it  entire.  '  It  is  now  time,'  says  Bacon,  'we  should  propose  the 
art  itself  of  interpreting  nature ;  wherein,  though  we  conceive  that  we 
have  laid  down  highly  useful  and  just  precepts,  yet  we  attribute  no 
perfection,  or  absolute  necessity,  to  this  art  of  ours,  as  if  nothing 
could  be  done  without  it.  For  it  is  our  opinion,  that  if  men  were  pos- 
sessed of  a  just  history  of  nature  and  experience,  were  thoroughly 
versed  therein,  and  could  command  themselves  but  in  two  particulars  ; 
the  one,  in  laying  aside  received  opinions  and  notions ;  the  other,  in 
withholding  the  assent,  for  a  season,  from  general  conclusions,  they 
might,  by  tlieir  proper  and  native  force  of  mind,  without  any  other 
art"  fall  upon  our  form  of  interpretation,  for  the  whole  is  no  more 
than  a  genuine  and  natural  work  of  the  mind,  when  the  obstacles  to 
it  are  removed,  though,  doubtless,  all  will  be  made  readier  for  use,  and 
receive  great  strength,  by  our  precepts. 

"  *  Nor  do  we  say  that  nothing  can  be  added  to  these  precepts  of 
ours ;  on  the  contrary,  we  who  do  not  highly  esteem  the  mind  in  its 
own  faculty,  but  chiefly  so  far  as  it  is  furnished  and  joined  with  things, 
ought  to  lay  it  down,  that  the  art  of  invention  may  grow  up  with  inven- 
tions themselves.'  "—("Novum  Organum,"  part  ii.,  sec.  vii.,  §  130.) 

t  "  On  this  subject  see  the  '  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,'  Part 
n.,  n.  277;  'Animal  Kingdom,'  n.  312  (b),  n.  462  (c),  n.  573  (o), 
*  Arcana  Coelestia,'  n.  4658." 


Swedenborg's  instruments  leave  to  man  the  whole  play  of  his 
faculties,  and  indeed  require  their  utmost  exercise  ;  and  merely 
feed  them,  through  an  appropriate  channel,  and  in  proper  qual- 
ity and  quantity,  with  matter  derived  from  the  various  degrees 
of  the  created  universe.     And  he  nowhere  deems  that  the 
sciences  can  advance  towards   philosophy,  independently  of 
moral  requisites  in  those  who  cultivate  them ;  for  the  mind  of 
necessity  operates  on  its   materials,  however  brought  to  it, 
according  to  its  own  nature  ;  and  if  that  nature  be  at  variance 
with  the  moral  ground-work  of  things,  in  short,  with  the  ends 
of  the  universe,  no  organon  can  influence  it  towards  the  truths 
of  creation,  while  its  own  prepossessions  are  on  the  side  of 
error  and  evil.*     And  here  is  a  new  '  idol '  affecting  the  growth 
of  the  sciences,  and  which  Bacon  but  ftiintly  allowed :  for  he 
excluded  final  causes  from  the  scientific  doctrine  of  nature,t 
and  consistently  enough,  therefore,    from  the  conditions  of 
studyin-  nature :  and  although  he  admitted  that  the  under- 
standing is  drenched  in  the  affections,  yet  by  the  tincture  of 
the  affe'^ctions  he  meant  little  more  than  erroneous  habits  of 
thought,  derived  either  from  idiosyncrasies  or  circumstances ; 
in  short,  prejudices  of  various  kinds.J     On  the  contrary,  we 
learn  in  the  writings  of  Swedenborg,  that  doctrines  cannot 
permanently  elevate  knowledge,  unless  they  work  with  expe- 
rience, are  handled  by  genius,  and  are  used  with  good  inten- 


*"  See  the  '  Principia,' Part  L,  Chap.  L,  n.  4;  'Economy  of  the 
Animal  Kingdom,'  Part  I.,  n.  20-22  ;  '  Animal  Ivingdom,'  n.  12,  13 ; 

n-  4C3."  , .  •     •    „^„ 

t "  •  The  inquiry  of  final  causes  is  a  barren  thing,  or  as  a  virgin  con- 
secrated to  God.'"  (Bacon,  "  Advancement  of  Learning,"  section  vi.) 
t  "  The  light  of  the  understanding  is  not  dry  or  pure  hght,  but 
drenched  in  the  will  and  affections,  and  the  intellect  forms  the  sciences 
accordingly ;  for  what  men  desire  should  be  true,  they  are  most  mclined 
to  believe.  The  understanding,  therefore,  rejects  things  difficult,  as 
being  impatient  of  inquiry,  things  just  and  solid,  because  they  limit 
hope,  and  the  deeper  mysteries  of  nature,  through  superstition;  it 
rejects  the  light  of  experience,  through  pride  and  haughtiness,  as  dis- 
daining the  mind  should  be  meanly  and  waverly  employed ;  it  excludes 
paradoxes,  for  fear  of  the  vulgar.  And  thus  the  affections  tinge  and 
infect  the  understanding,  numberless  ways,  and  sometimes  impercep- 
tibly."    (Bacon,  "  Novum  Organum,"  part  i.,  sec.  n.,  §  12.) 


168 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


169 


tioDS.     For  they  tend  iu  no  degree  to  produce  equality  between 
human  minds,  but  rather  to  manifest,  in  tlieir  operation,  deli- 
cacies of  intellectual  distinction  between  different  men,  and  finer 
points  of  moral  dissimilarity.     The  mind  may  be  likened  to  a 
chemical  substance,  rich  in  affinities  for  other  substances,  and 
capable  of  innumerable  reactions  ;  doctrines  being  the  vessels 
wherein  those  substances  are  brought  to  it  for  test  or  analysis ; 
and  the  integral  series  of  reactions  is  all  the  philcsophy  and 
science  that  the  mind  is  capable  of.     If  the  central  power  and 
substance  be  weak,  imperfect,  or  vicious,  neither  the  vessels  in 
which  things  are  brought  to  it,  nor  those  things  themselves, 
can  adjust  the  mischief;  nor  can  the  series  of  reactions  be 
other  than  correspondent  as  well  to  the  mind  as  to  its  defects. 
"  In  one  point  of  view,  Swedenborg  is  the  synthesis  of  Aris- 
totle and  Bacon.     For  Bacon  desires,  unassisted  by  philosoph- 
ical doctrines,  to  scale  the  heiglrts  of  nature,  hoping  that  one 
correct  induction  piled  upon  another,  will  enable  him  at  length 
to  arrive  at  the  apex  of  the  pyramid  ;  meanwhile  he  disallows 
the  mind  so  greatly,  that  its  intuitions  are  affronted,  and  its 
proper  experience  undervalued  ;  so  that  though  he  indeed  aims 
at  principles,  yet  he  has  negatived  the  faculty  which  alone  can 
receive  and  apprehend  them.     Aristotle,  on  the  other  hand, 
accepts  the  experience  of  the  mind,  and  draws  it  out  into  log- 
ical explanations,  but  he  has  not  determined  it  by  matter,  and 
he  has  therefore  but  a  slight   hold  on  nature,  compared  with 
what   is    at   present   necessary    for  marshalling  the  sciences. 
Swedenborg  embraces  the  merits  and  avoids  the  imperfections 
of  these  writers,  and  he  alone  has  propounded  a  science  consti- 
tuted of  principles,  which  as  it  were  spontaneously  are  physical 
in  the  physical  universe  and  philosophical  in  the  mind  of  man, 
and  by  which  we  may  pass  and  repass  from  the  one  into  the 
other,  so  as  to  contemplate  the  end  of  creation  in  connection 
with  the  means,  and  vice  versa.     The  ascending  method  of 
Bacon,  and  the  descending  one  of  Aristotle,  are  in  fact  both 
realized  by  Swedenborg,  and  being  connected  to  each  other  at 
either  end,  they  form  a  legitimate  and  widening  spiral,  revolv- 
ing from  the  senses  to  the  mind,  and  from  the  mind  to  the 
senses. 

*'  A  knowledge  of  the  human  soul  is  the  author's  aim  in  the 


t,re.ent  volumes.     The  same  subject  apparently  is  the  goal  of 

thT^Principia,'and  still  more  plainly  of  the  'Prodromuson 

the  Infinite.'     Whether  Swedenborg  was   conscious  from  an 

early  period  of  this  direction  of  his  labors,  is  hard  to  deter- 

minL  but  it  is  certain  that  he  rose  from  one  study  to  another, 

Tn  reAilar  order,  without  proposing  an  ultimate  end  un  il  he 

Ickimed  his  resolution  to  investigate  the  soul.     H.s  theory 

tt  mathematics  and  dynamics  of  chemistry,  brought    nm 

t  view  of  the  elemental  kingdom,  the  fluids  of  which  are    the 

Lied  forces  of  nature.'     The  exploration  of  this  kmgdom  is  a 

remarkable  stage  in  his  career,  but  it  did  not  crown  his  desires  , 

for  he  proceeded  forthwith  to  that  which  is  the  determination 

of  the  whole  elemental  world  and  terrestrial  kmgdom,  viz.,  to 

the  organic  animal  kingdom,  and  to  its  first  and  last  subject 

he  human  body.     Here  again  he  bent  his  course  continually 

::  rds   till   he   contemplated   ^1- .  pn^f  a.  currents   a^^^^ 

stamina  of  natural  life.     The  activity  of  the  highest  fluid  of 
stamina  oi  .^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^^ 

the  microcosm  he  tells  us  is  me   »^'ui  ,  c      • 

searching.     The  predicates  of  the  soul,  in  the  language  of  un,- 
ersals,  a-'ree  wit\.  the  prcaieates  of  the  spirituous  flu.d,  and 
h     .  vo  are  consequet>.ly   identical,  according  to  a  1   sound 
reasoJ     Still,  however,  in  the  'Animal  Kingdom '  we  hnd 
him  embarking  in  a  new  voyage  of  discovery  in  the  reg.ons  of 
Z  soul ;  thus  furnishing  an  extraordinary  example  of  endu.g 
and  beginning;  of  progress,  not  by  renunciation  ot  pr.nc.ples, 
but  by  alteraU;n  of  forms,  till  at  last  they  will  contain,  and 
adequately  express  the  truth.     And  so  he  admitted  that  he 
was  too  hasty  in  attempting  a  passage  to  the  soul,  alter  uiv.s- 
ti-atin-  but  a  few  provinces  of  the  empire  of  the  body.     For 
as%he  soul  is  the  inmost  order  and  law  of  the  whole  system,  he 
must  perforce  scrutinize  to  the  core  each  organ  and  the  who  e, 
before  the  .oul  can  appear  as  the  universal  and  the  compk,- 
,nent  of  that  microcosm  which  she  animates.     Even  m      e 
'  Animal  Kingdom '  he  has  still  not  treated  sufficiently  of  the 
brain  and  the  body,  to  empower  him  to  predicate  anything 
positive  of  the  soul ;  therefore  he  puts  forth  certain  hypotheses 
with  a  view  to  accommodation,  until  such  time  as  the  truth 
declares  itself.     In  the  treatise  on  '  The  Worship  and  Love  of 
God,'  we  have  still  further  statements  on  the  sold,  and  a  reco„- 
.  16 


m 


»t' 


\ 


170 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


171 


nition  of  the  spiritual  world  as  distinct  from  nature.  And  here 
his  mingled  physiological  and  psychological  endeavors  termi- 
nate. Thenceforth  he  discerned  the  soul,  neither  through  the 
dark  glass  of  science,  nor  through  the  mists  of  philosophy,  nor 
througli  the  curtains  of  nature,  hut  in  a  manner  more  rare  and 
homely ;  viz.,  by  spiritual  sight  and  experience,  rightly  appre- 
hended by  a  prepared  or  spiritual  mind. 

"  As  Swedcnborg  pursued  the  sciences  for  so  high  an  end, 
or  for  the  attainment  of  moral  and  rational  psychofogy,  so  in' 
his  hands  they  were  means  of  a  new  order,  and  disclosed 
truths  of  corresponding  elevation.  Above  all,  the  anatomy  of 
the  human  body  proved  to  be  a  mine  of  unexpected  treasure." 
— ^pp.  x.-xvii. 

94.  From  "  An  Historical  and  Critical  Vieio  of  Speculative 
Philosophy  of  Europe  in  the  Nineteenth    Century^'   by  J.  D. 
MoRELL,  Vol.  /.,  second  revised  and  enlarged  edition,  London 
pp.  315-323. 

"To  give  anything  approacliing  to  an  adequate  view  of  the 
Swedenborgian  pln'Iosopliy,  we  feel  to  be  a  matter  of  great  dif- 
ficulty, and,  indeed,  in  a  brief  compass,  almost  impossible. 
The  difficulty  of  the  case  arises  partly  from  the  frequent  ob- 
scurity [?]  with  which  his  Uioughts  are  expressed,  and  partly 
from  the  differences  of  opinion  upon  many  important  points, 
which  exist  among  his  followers.  Although  according  to  his 
own  testimony  lie  was  accustomed  from  a  child  to  think 
much  upon  spiritual  things,  yet  his  earlier  manhood  seemed  to 
be  altogether  engrossed  in  scientific  pursuits.  The  resuhs  of 
these  studies  exist  to  the  present  day  in  the  form  of  volumes 
and  tracts,  which  travel  over  almost  the  whole  surface  of  nat- 
ural history  and  science,  and  in  which,  it  is  only  just  to  say  are 
found,  more  or  less  obscurely,  many  of  the  germs  of  recent 
and  brilliant  discoveries. 

"  It  was  in  the  '  Prodromu?,'  a  brief  treatise  upon  '  The  Infi- 
nite and  the  Soul,'  that  the  philosophical  and  tiicological  think- 
mg  of  Swedcnborg  began.  I  say  philosophical  and  Theological, 
because  it  was  his  firm  conviction  from  the  first,  that  revela- 
tion  and   philosophy  were   fundamentally   identical,  that  all 


religion  was  to  be  made  scientific,  and  all  science  to  be  made 

"Se'first  question  which  suggests  itself  with  reference  to 
ine  nrbi  hu  ^  ^^  method  it 

principles  ^vhatever,  i  ^^  ^^    ^,^^„^,j 

pendent  observe  ,  *° /'f  ™^^_"^,  ,„y  „npl,ilosopl.i.al  [?] 

tween  1 10  ui  mi  research  begins  to 

animal  '^^^'^^^J^'^'Z  human  body  may  be  regarded 
gam  point  and  pregnancy,     x  concentrated 

as  that  in  which  all  the  operations  of  nature  are 

\  c  ♦  A  MprP  therefore,  is  a  microcosm— a  perfect 
and  P-f;.f^-  "7;^^:_,„  'i^age  of  .he  whole  creation; 
representation  of  all  be^^  .  pWlosophy  may 

here,  consequently,  a  theatre,  up  '       ,    ,^^„,  ,ve 

SdrXhTrolved,  a^  he  tells  ^^^^^^Z:^^ 
patient  observation,  are  potent  to  -J    f  ^^P  ^e^  ,^  ,„e 


172 


swedexborg's  philosophy. 


in  all  her  moYeraents  ;  hence  every  higher  region  in  which  she 
appears,  from  the  mineral  to  the  man,  is  represented  by  move- 
ment in  a  particular  form.  All  the  movements  of  the  mineral 
kingdom  are  angular,  as  seen  in  the  crystal ;  the  next  form  is 
circular,  as  seen  in  the  bodily  organization,  in  the  circulation 
of  the  blood,  etc.  ;  the  highest  form  is  the  spiral,  the  type  of 
spirit  itself.  [There  are  other  and  higher  forms  emimerated, 
of  which  see  in  nos.  71,  72. — Editor.'] 

"  In  developing  the  physiology  of  the  human  body,  another 
philosophical  principle  comes  clearly  into  view,  namely,  the 
doctrine  of  series.  Anxious  to  know  the  real  structure  of  the 
various  organs  of  the  human  frame,  Swedenborg  conceived 
that  the  doctrine  of  monads,  and  of  ultimate  atoms,  would  only 
bring  him  to  a  dark,  unintelligible  point,  in  which  all  form  or 
organization  ceased  ;  and  that  the  notion  of  the  infinite  divisi- 
bility of  matter  would  lead  to  a  nonentity,  from  which  nothing 
could  be  drawn.  Every  organ,  then,  he  conceived,  must  be 
made  up  of  perfect  atomistic  organs,  each  of  which  expresses 
the  thing  itself  far  more  completely  than  the  whole;  just  as 
society  is  made  up  of  individual  men,  and  each  man  is  the 
most  perfect  pattern  of   humanity.     Everything   in   nature, 

therefore,  consists  of  a  series  of  perfectly  organized  atoms 

the  lungs,  e.  g.,  innumerable  microscopic  lungs,  the  heart  of 
numerous  smallest  hearts,  and  so  forth  with  all  the  other 


organs. 


"  Having  gone  through  the  regions  of  philosophy,  Sweden- 
borg came  to  the  confines  of  the  province  of  Spirit  itself. 
Oiten,  he  tells  us,  had  he  searched  for  some  light  upon  tlie 
nature  of  the  soul,  but  as  often  had  been  disappointed,  until  at 
length  he  got  upon  the  right  track,  and  entered  the  sacred 
chamber.*  To  gaze  upon  the  soul  by  the  senses  was  mani- 
festly impossible ;  but  was  it  not  possible  to  reason  up  from 
the  material  to  the  immaterial,  and  from  the  fixcts  of  the  one 
to  see  into  the  nature  of  the  other  ?  The  validity  of  such  a 
process  was  grounded  upon  the  doctrine  of  derjrecs — a  doctrine, 
he  says,  which  is  necessary  '  to  enable  us  to  follow  in  the  steps 


*  *'  See  his  *  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,'  chap,  iii.,  on  the 
Soul.'l 


SWEDENBORG'S    PHILOSOPm. 


173 


of  nature ;  since  to  attempt  without  it  to  approach  and  visit 
her  in  her  sublime  abode  would  be  to  attempt  to  climb  heaven 
by  the   Tower  of  Babel ;  for  the   highest  step  must  be  ap- 
proached by  the  intermediate.'*     The  doctrine   of  degrees, 
accordinMv,  is  that  which  teaches  us  that  there  is  a  relation 
or  parallelism  between  all  things  in  nature,  from  the  lowest 
sphere  in  which  it  exists,  to  the  highest.     Thus  the  brain  con- 
tains potentially  the  whole  body,  and  what  is  essentially  true 
of  the  body,  is  true  of  it.     Again,  the  animal  spirits,  which 
flow  through  the  nerves,  in  a  higher  and  more  ethereal  sphere, 
perfectly  represent  the  more  gross  and  obdurate  human  organ- 
ization ;  so  also  the  soul  itself,  in  a  still  higher  region,  musi; 
be  a  perfect  tvpe,  or  rather  co-ordinate  archetype  of  the  body. 
Accordin-ly/all  nature  by  these  degrees  ascends  from  the 
lowest  to°  the  highest,  and  descends  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest;  so  that  by  the  aid  of  this  philosophical  formula  we 
can  study  the  spiritual  world  by  means  of  the  knowledge  we 

possess  of  the  material.f 

"  Even  in  the  spirit  itself  there  are  degrees.     The  lowest  la 
that  which  is  only  cognizant  of  sensations  ;  the  next  above 
thi^  is  the  animus,  whose  office  is  to  imagine  and  desire ; 
thirdly,  there  is  the  mind,  which  understands  and  wills ;  and, 
lastly,  there  is  the  soul,  whose  office  is  to  represent  the  uni- 
verse, and  have  intuitions  of  ends.t     Such  is  man,  so  far  as 
the  form  of  his  being  is  concerned ;  but  where  is  the  lite 
which  is  to  animate  him  ?     The  body  is  dead  matter  but  it  is 
vivified  by  the  soul-but  whence  the  life  of  the  soul  ?     It  is 
the  love  of  God.§     God,  according  to  Swedenborg,  is  perfect 
man.     The  essence  and  form  of  God  are  respectively  perfect 
love  and  perfect  wisdom ;  the  former  is  represented  m  the 
human  will,  the  latter  in  the  human  understanding. 

-Having  thus  traced  the  philosophy  of  Swedenborg  to  is 
highest  point,  we  may  look  back  for  a  moment  upon  his  whole 
method   of   procedure.     Evidently   it    is    the  mductive   and 


*  ''  Economy  of  Animal  Kingdom,  chap,  iii.,  section  210.       ^^ 
t  "This  is  an  application  of  the  doctrine  of  correspondences. 
X  »'  Economy  of  Animal  Kingdom,  chap.  iii.  sect.  6. 
§  **  Angelic  Wisdom,  Part  I." 

15* 


174 


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swedenborg's  philosophy. 


175 


synthetic  method  combined.  Commencing  by  observation,  his 
mind  seized  upon  certain  high  philosophical  axioms,  and  from 
them  reasoned  downwards  to  the  nature  and  uses  of  particular 
objects.  Perhaps  it  is  the  only  attempt  the  w^orld  has  seen 
(with  the  exception  of  the  unsuccessful  efforts  of  Comte)  at 
rising  upwards  to  purely  philosophical  ideas  from  positive  and 
concrete  facts. 

"  Having  attained  thus  to  the  highest  region  of  philosophy, 
Swedenborg  enters  the  world  of  theological  truth.  P'or  gazin'^ 
upon  the  spiritual  world,  he  conceives  we  have  purely  spiritual 
senses,  and  a  spiritual  understanding.  To  most  men  the 
spiritual  world  is  closed  ;  because,  absorbed  in  the  lower  or 
sensual  life,  they  have  no  intuition  of  it.  To  many,  moreover 
who  do  obtain  spiritual  intuitions,  there  exists  not  an  enlight- 
ened spiritual  understanding  to  interpret  what  the  inward  eye 
beliolds.  Spiritual  or  theological  truth  only  becomes  clear 
when  both  these  requisites  unite  ;  where  the  purely  moralized 
or  unsensualized  soul  gazes  upon  the  higher  world,  and  where 
the  spiritual  understanding  can  comprehend  what  is  seen. 

"  Swedenborg  was  assuredly  a  great  intellectual  phenome- 
non. Seldom,  perhaps  never,  have  so  many  systems  concen- 
trated in   a  single   mind.     He   began   a  simple  observer a 

Baconian  analyst ;  from  that  he  raised  himself  to  the  region  of 

the  rational  and   ideal  truth,   and  ended   a  mystic  [?] the 

favored  channel  of  a  new  dispensation  to  mankind.  In  him 
sensationalism,  idealism,  mysticism,  were  united — the  only 
phase  through  which  he  never  passed  was  that  of  scepti- 
cism.    ..." 

95.     The    following    shows   the   interesting  position   that 
Prof.  Matter  assigns  to  Swedenborg  in  philosophy  : 

"  Swedenborg  is  the  supernatural  in  the  presence  of  the 
criticism  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  supernatural,  how- 
ever, is  not  only  the  highest  question  which  is  most  agitated 
amongst  us,  who  are  the  children  of  the  eighteenth  century  in 
a  much  higher  degree  than  we  imagine  ourselves  to  be,  but  it 
also  always  has  been,  and  will  forever  be  the  most  absorbing 
question  that  can  engage  the  human  intellect,  before  which 
all  other  questions  grow  pale  and  are  put  in  the  shade.     And 


if  Swedenborg  is  the  supernatural  in  the  presence  of  criticism, 
he  is  also  the  greatest  reconciliation  that  has  ever  been 
attempted  between  the  natural  and  the  supernatural,  between 
the  rational  and  the  marvellous. 

"  Now  this  noble  attempt,  which  has  been  in  the  order  of 
the  day  ever  since  man  has  been,  will  be  so  forever,  at  least 
as  long  as  God  and  human  reason  will  be.  For  the  question 
of  the  supernatural  concerns  not  only  the  existence  of  the 
spiritual  world,  but  also  the  relations  existing  between  the  two 
worlds.  And  now  suppose  that  man,  according  to  Sweden- 
borg's idea,  is  at  the  same  time  the  most  beautiful  problem 
and°  the  most  eloquent  solution  of  these  relations  ?  In  this 
case  human  intelligence  would  be  perfectly  in  the  right  in 
having  always  preferred,  and  in  continuing  to  prefer  above 
anything  else  to  cope  with  this  problem. 

"  The  criticism  of  the  last  century  considered  itself  stronger 
than  the  supernatural ;  and  in  its  hours  of  blind  confidence  it 
has  not  hesitated  to  throw  the  whole  question  overboard.  It 
was  regarded  as  one  of  those  superannuated  conceptions  which 
henceforth  were  to  be  submitted  to  pure  reason  and  common 
sense.  And  how  shall  I  say?  By  a  kind  of  irony  of  destiny, 
or  by  a  dispensation  of  Providence  at  this  very  time  of  mortal 
strife,  in  the  face  of  this  criticism,  the  supernatural  suddenly 
presented  itself  in  its  boldest  and  most  ambitious  forms  ;  for 
it  never  has  and  it  never  will  assume  more  startling  forms 
than  it  has  assumed  in  the  life  and  doctrines  of  Swedenborg. 
A  scholar  of  the  first  order,  a  creative  mineralogist  in  the  art 
of  smelting  metals  and  of  exploring  nature,  has  become  as  it 
were  the  supernatural  incarnate ;  at  all  events,  he  is  the 
expression  of  the  supernatural  in  its  highest  power." — Vie  de 
Swedenborg.  Preface,  pp.  iii.-v. 

96.  Swedenborg's  importance  in  Psychology  has  been  very 
ably  advocated  in  the  following  extract  from  a  little  work, 
entitled :  ''  Wisdom,  Intelligence  and  Science,  the  True  Charac- 
teristics of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,"  by  '^  Medicus  Cantabrigi- 


ENSIS 


» 


*  The  late  Dr.  Spurgin,  formerly  President  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Physicians  in  London, 


176 


swedenboeg's  philosophy. 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


177 


"  It  should  be  remembered  that  Swedenborg  himself  took 
the  lead  iu  this  department  of  knowledge  (i.  c,  psychology)  ; 
for  so  long  ago  as  the  year  1740  he  published  his  Introduc- 
tion  TO   A   Rational   Psychology,  —  a  work    which   will 
amply  repay  repeated  perusal,  and  which,  in  fact,  so  profound 
are  its  views,  will  require  it.     We  would  venture  to  recom- 
mend this  work  to  all  who  take  an  interest  in  psycholo^^ical 
subjects ;  more  especially  to   all  who  write  upon  them.     We 
have  studied  it  with  much  interest  and  advantage,  and  not 
with  the  cursory  glances  that  distinguish  modern  reviewers. 
Forty  years  of  reflection,  of  comparison,  and  of  observation, 
should,  perhaps,  enable   us  to  assert  for  the  work  the  pre- 
eminence which  it  merits.     This  estimate  of  it  is,  moreover, 
strengthened  by  the  suggestions  which  we  find  at  the  outset  of 
it.     '  Whether,'  says  the  author,  '  there  be  truth  in  what  I 
have  advanced,  and  in  what  remains  to  be  advanced,  may  be 
easily   ascertained    from    the   four   following   considerations: 
First,  If  the  truth  spontaneously  manifests  itself,  and,  as  it 
were,  establishes  a  belief  in  its  presence,  without  requirin<^ 
any  support  from  far-fetched  arguments  :  For  we  often,  by  a 
common  notion,  and,  as  it  were,  by  rational  instinct,  compre- 
hend a  thing  to  be  true,  which  afterwards,  by  a  multiplicity 
of  reasonings  drawn  from  a  confused  perception  of  particulars 
unarranged  and  unconnected  with  others  more  remote  from 
our  notice,  is  brought  into  obscurity,  called  in  question,  and  at 
last  denied.     Secondly,  If  all  experience,  both  particular  and 
general,   spontaneously  favor  it.      Thirdly,   If  the  rules  and 
maxims  of  rational  philosophy  do  the   same.     Lastly,  If  the 
proposed  view  makes  the    different   hypotheses  which    have 
been  advanced  on  the  subject  coincide,  supplying  us  with  the 
proper  condition  or  common  principle,  which  brings  them  into 
order  and  connection  ;  so  that,  contemplated  in  this  manner, 
they  are  agreeable    to  the  truth /^Economy  of  the   Animcd 
Kingdom,  Part  I.,  n.  579. 

"  This  Introduction  to  a  Rational  Psychology  is  based  upon 
the  doctrine  of  series  and  degrees,  which  teaches  the  mode 
observed  by  nature  in  the  subordination  and  coordination  of 
things ;  and  the  principal  natural  sciences  are  embraced 
within  it,  because  we  everywhere  find  in  nature  the  laws  of 


order.  This  doctrine  is  most  strikingly  and  perfectly  exem- 
plified in  the  animal  kingdom  by  every  animal,  the  constituent 
parts  of  which  are  so  subordinated  and  coordinated  that  they 
exist  simultaneously  in  subordination  and  coordination,  and 
from  causes  produce  correspondent  actions;  for  in  every 
single  action,  will  and  thought,  whether  instinctive  or  human, 
are°discernible  as  its  producing  cause. 

"  At  the  conclusion  of  this  incomparable  Mrodudion,  which 
is  but  preparatory  to  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  cerebral 
functions  and  movements,  with  regard  both  to  their  influence 
upon  the  body,  and  to  the  bodily  diseases  which  affect  them^  in 
turn,  Swedenborg  addresses  his  readers  in  these  very  striking 
term's  :— '  I  have  now  completed  the  first  part  of  my  Trans- 
actions on  the  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom.     But  I  am 
not  sure  whether  I  have  followed  up  the  truth  everywhere. 
I  place  no  reliance  upon  myself,  but  leave  it  to  the  candor  of 
my  readers  to  weigh  carefully  what  I  have  advanced  so  far. 
If  I  have  been  betrayed  into  a  mistake,  the  following  parts, 
in  proportion  as  they  are  based  upon  true  science,  will  correct 
it.     But  what  is  truth  ?     Will  it  be  the  work  of  ages  either 
to  discover  it,  or  to  recognize  it  when  it  is  discovered  ?     Is  it 
with  truth  now  as  it  was  with  the  illustrious  Ilarvcy  when  he 
discovered  the  circulation  of  the  blood  ?     The  fashion,  how- 
ever, of  a  judging  of  a  work  by  the  felicity  of  the  writer's 
language,  rather  than  by  its  truth,  cannot  be  eternal.     The 
former^'proceediug  is  easy  and  common  in  polite  circles,  so 
called,  but  the  latter  presents  a  difficulty  to  be  surmounted 
only  by  great  mental  industry.     Still,  as  was  remarked  by 
Seneca,  "Tenue  est  mendacium;  pcrlucct,  si  diligenter  inspexeris:^ 
C  Falsehood  is  flimsy  ;  on  careful  inspection  it  shines  through.' 

— Epist.  Ixxix.) 

"  Having  treated  specifically,  first  of  the  cerebral  motion, 
and  afterwards  of  the  cortical  substance  of  the  brain,— regard- 
ing this  substance  as  the  principal  efficient  cause  of  all  the 
operations,  both  of  the  brain  and  the  body,  and  as  the  first 
and  last  term  of  all,— he  proceeds  to  the  great  subject  of 
Psychology  itself,  viz.,  the  human  soul. 

''  The  third  chapter  of  the  second  part  of  Swedenborg's 
Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,  which  treats  of  the  human 


178 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


soul,  is,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  a  production  unparalleled 
for  excellence  in  the  whole  compass  of  human  philosophy. 
Neither  Galileo  nor  Harvey,  in  their  demonstrations  of  truth, 
struggled  a  whit  more  manfully  than  did  Swedenborg  against 
the  false  impression  of  appearances.  The  two  former  con- 
tended against  the  fallacies  which  impress  the  outer  senses  of 
humanity  ;  the  latter  contended  against  those  which  deceive 
the  rational  perceptions  also  of  our  being.  Appearances, 
indeed,  would  confirm  the  notion  that  the  rational  perceptions 
spring  from  the  outer  senses ;  but  Swedenborg  demonstrates 
most  scientifically  that  appearances,  when  taken  for  realities, 
subjugate  every  mental  faculty,  whether  sensual,  rational  or 
spiritual ;  and  he  himself  initiated  the  charge  against  his  own 
age,  governed  as  it  was  by  appearances,  that  '  the  senses  are 
subjugated  by  false  impressions.*  The  present  age  has 
retorted  the  charge  upon  him,  while  it  adheres  to  the  falla- 
cious appearances  which  he  exposed  and  even  anticipated,  as 
likely  to  frustrate  his  mission." — pp.  11-14. 

97.  Swedenborg,  at  one  period  of  his  philosophical  career, 
held  partly  materialistic  ideas  of  the  soul,  though  they  were 
never  coupled  with  atheism.  This  phase  of  his  mental  devel- 
opment we  will  find  discussed  in  the  following  extracts  : — 

From  the  "  New  Church  Quarterly  Rrview"  Vol.  I.  p.  290. 
"  Swedexborg's  Outlines  or  Prodromus  of  the  Infinite." 

"...  Altogether,  the  perusal  of  this  chapter  on  the 
'  Infinite '  has  afibrded  us  another  evidence  of  the  exceeding" 
truthfulness  of  Swedcnborg's  mind.  Starting  from  the  lowest 
point  of  philosophical  naturalism,  he  has  steadily  and  honestly 
pursued  his  way  ;  tracking  maze  after  maze  and  subtilty  after 
subtilty,  he  presents  us  at  each  turn  in  the  path  with  the 
exact  truth  of  his  position ;  and,  as  a  last  result,  faithful  to 
the  dreary  course  he  has  been  induced  to  follow,  conducts  us 
to  the  cold  and  darksome  altar  upon  which  is  inscribed,  '  To 
the  Unknown  God.'  It  seems  as  if  Swedenborg  had  been 
permitted  to  tread  this  cheerless  wilderness  in  order  that  he 
might  see  by  actual  experience  the  folly  and  utter  futility  of 
all  such  lifeless  speculations.  At  all  events,  if  we  are  disposed 
to  profit  by  the  lesson,  it  may  be  one  of  life-long  import  to 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


179 


ourselves.     How  forcibly  are  we  reminded  of  the  warning  in 
reference  to  this  very  matter,  which  he  gives  in  the  last  and 
crownino^  work   of  his  wondrous  career.      Speaking  of  the 
dan"-er  and  folly  of   all  reasonings  concerning   the  infinite, 
founded  upon  the  fallacies  of  the  senses,  he  says  :  '  I  myself 
was  once  convinced  of  this  by  experience  ;  I  was  thinking 
what  God  had   been  doing  from   eternity,  what  before  the 
establishment  of  the  world,  whether  he  was  deliberating  about 
the  Creation,  and  was  laying  out  the  plan  according  to  which 
this  would  have  to  be  effected  ;  whether  in  a  pure  vacuum  a 
deliberative  thought  could  exist,  and  other  equally  incongruous 
things.     But  lest  I  might  be  brought  into  delirious  states,  I 
was  elevated  by  the  Lord  into  the  sphere  and  the  light,  in 
which  the  interior  angels  are ;  and  after  the  idea  of  space  and 
time,   in  which  my  thought  had   been  detained  before,  had 
there  been  removed  a  little,  it  was  granted  to  me  to  under- 
stand that  the  eternity  of  God  is  not  an  eternity  of  time,  and 
that,  because  there  was  no  time  before  the  world,  it  was  alto- 
gether useless  to  entertain  any  such  speculations  about  God.'  *' 
("^Tme  Christian  Religion"  n.  31.) 

98.  On  this  same  subject  Dr.  Tmmanuel  Tafel,  Profes- 
sor of  Philosophy  and  Librarian  at  the  University  of  Tubin- 
gen, author  of  a  "  Fundamental  Philosophy,"  a  "  History  and 
Criticism  of  Scepticism  and  Irrationalism,"  etc.,  and  editor  of 
many  of  the  posthumous  works  of  Swedenborg,  speaks  in  a 
communication  to  the  editor  of  the  ''New  Church  Quarterly," 
as  follows  : — 

"The  philosophy  of  Swedcnborg's  time  was  either  idealism, 
or  dualism,  or  materialism,  and  his  own  former  philosophy 
was,  as  we  know,  a  kind  of  materialism,  but  the  most  inno- 
cent that  ever  existed,  and  therefore  capable  of  being  turned 
into  spiritualism.  There  were  three  classes  of  materialists  : 
1.  The  Atomists,  who  supposed  that  the  soul  was  a  compound 
of  a  peculiar  kind  of  atoms,  lifeless  in  themselves,  such  as 
Leucippus,  Epicurus,  etc., — against  whom  it  could  be  said, 
that  the  compound  cannot  contain  what  is  not  in  its  constitu- 
ent parts,  because  ex  nihilo  nihil  fit ;  wherefore  Bayle  said  in 
his  Dictionary  (article  'Leucippus,'  note  e),that  the difficulries 


180 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


SWEDENBORG*S    PHn^OSOPHT. 


181 


in  the  system  of  Leucippus  would  have  been  removed,  if 
he  had  attributed  to  his  atoms  a  living  soul,  as,  according  to 
Plutarch,  had  already  been  done  by  Democritus,  who,  how- 
ever, could  not  sufficiently  explain  how  matter  can  think,  or 
how  it  can  be  alone  considered  as  substance  ;  wherefore,  2. 
the  Harmonists  said  that  the  soul  is  a  mere  word,  and  that  it 
consists  in  the  harmony  or  organization  of  the  body  ;  to  these 
belon^'ed  some  of  those  a^i^ainst  whom  Plato  wrote  in  his 
'  Phaedo'  (and  Aristotle  in  his  'De  Anima,'  i.  iv.),  at  a  later 
time  Aristoxenus  and  Dicaearchus — who  in  other  respects 
were  Aristotelians  —  and  in  our  times,  the  author  of  the 
'Systeme  de  la  Nature,'  1770,  and  La  Mettrie,  of  the  Acad- 
emy of  Berlin.  .  .  .  According  to  him,  the  soul  is  a  part 
of  the  brain  ;  wherefore  King  Frederic  the  Great,  iu  his 
'•Eloge  de  la  Mettrie'  (Oeuvres  de  Frederic,  ii.,  torn.  3,  p. 
169),  said,  '  It  appears  that  the  disease,  knowing  with  whom 
it  had  to  do,  in  order  to  destroy  more  surely,  was  artful 
enough  to  attack  the  brain  first.  He  took  a  raging  fever, 
accompanied  with  violent  delirium;  and  died  Nov.  11,  1751, 
when  43  years  of  age.  The  experience  La  Mettrie  had 
quoted,  proved  only  tlie  dependence  of  the  thinking  power 
upon  its  present  instruments,  but  by  no  means  that  body  and 
soul  are  only  one  material  substance,  as  had  been  shown 
afterward  by  Eli  Luzac  in  his  work  :  L'homme  plus,  que 
Machine,  Londres,  1748.  lie  could,  moreover,  refute  him 
with  the  same  arguments  that  Plato  had  already  urged.  .  . 
This  hypothesis  had  been  previously  refuted  by  the  reasonings 
of  Gassendi,  who  proved  that  no  part  of  matter  can  act  on 
itself.  There  was,  therefore,  a  strong  necessity  of  separating 
the  soul  from  the  body,  and  of  supposing,  at  least,  that  the 
soul  is  a  purer  matter  ;  and  nearly  all  philosophers  before 
Descartes,  although  they  said  that  the  soul  was  an  immaterial 
substance,  thought,  neverthelesSj  that  it  consisted  of  a  subtler 
matter,  which  was,  however,  endowed  with  intrinsic  life,  and 
was  so  simple  that  it  could  not  perish  with  the  body.  This 
third  species  of  materialism  was  that  of  Swedenhorg,  in  his 
*  Prodromus  de  lufinito,'  where  he  nevertheless  said  : — 

" '  Actives  regarded   separately  from   their  membrane   or 
envelope  cannot  be  conceived  as  occupying  place  or  determinate 


situation ;  or  as  forming  a  contiguity  or  expanse ;  of  which, 
therefore,  in  themselves  they  are  devoid  ;  nor  do  they  at  all 
imply  the  relations  of  upward  and  downward,  or  of  resistance, 
but  only  pure  agoxicy  ;  thus  nothing  elemental,  nor  passive, 
though    notwithstanding    they    involve    pure    mechanics.*  — 

(p.  145.) 

"  But  now  we  could  object  to  him  that  in  his  '  Prodromus 
all  finite  substances  are  extended  in   space,   and  subject   to 
mechanical  and  geometrical  laws,  and  therefore  still  matter, 
which  is  incompatible  with  the  thinking  power  and  even  with 
sensation  ;  or  as  Eli  Luzac  says,  '  Subtility  being  only  rela- 
tive,  it  is  no  more  absurd  to  conceive,  or  rather  to  suppose  gross 
matter   endowed  with  these   attributes,   than   subtile   matter 
(p.  6).     .     .     .     It  is  proved  by  incontestible  experience  that 
matter  is  inert ;  that  is  to  say,  that  it  is  of  such  a  nature,  that 
once  in  repose,  it  requires  a  determinate  force  from  without  to 
put  it  into  action  ;  and  once  in  motion,  it  requires  a  like  ex- 
ternal  force  to  change  the  direction  of  its  motion,  or  reduce  it 
to  repose.     Let  us  sec,  if  this  faculty  of  thought  can  co-exist 
with  this  attribute  of  matter.     The  exercise  of  thought  can- 
not be  conceived  of  without  action  or  passion  ;  but  the  idea  of 
matter  in  perfect  repose,  namely,  in  such  a  state  that  it  does 
not  suffer  either  pressure  or  any  other  operation  of  any  sub- 
stance whatever  ;  —in  other  words,  the  idea  of  matter  consid- 
ered only  in  so  far  as  it  exists,  excludes  all  idea  of  action  and 
passion.     This  amounts  to  saying,  that  to  receive  ideas,  to 
compare  them,  to  reproduce  them,  to  form  a  judgment,  and  to 
prefer  one  condition  to  another,  in  a  word,  to  think,  supposes 
either  passion,  or  a  substance  in  activity,  and  cannot  be  the 
attribute  of  matter  in  repose,  etc'  (p,  9,)  [i.  e.  of  matter  ac- 
cording to  a  true  idea  of  its  nature].     He  proves,  also,  by  '  the 
idea  of  movement,  by  that  of  relations,  by  that  of  activity, 
and  by  the  idea  which  we  have  of  extent,  that  matter  cannot 
possess  the  attribute  of  thought.'— (pp.  10-12.) 

''  Similar  reasons  must  have  determined  Swedenborg  to 
change  his  materialism  into  spiritualism,  and  to  state  that  only 
the  spiritual  is  substantial,  and  as  such  not  subject  to  geo- 
metrical  and   mechanical  laws:    wherefore   he    said   in  lii3 

*  Diary'  (in  the  year  1748)  : — 

16 


182 


SWEDENBORG*S    PHILOSOPHY. 


" '  Everything  organical  in   man,  everything  corporeal  in 
him,  as  well  as  in  the  animal  and  likewise  the  ve^retable  kino-- 
doms,  is  formed  for  use,  and  according  to  use  ;  so  that  use  is 
as  it  were,  the  forming  principle.     Wherefore,  whoever  from 
use  investigates  organical  things,  can  then  see  the  connection 

of  things,  but  not  who  from  the  parts  investigates  the  use.' 

(n.  2510.) 

"  '  It  was  given  to  me  to  see  in  a  spiritual  idea,  which  is 
the  same  as  the  angelic  idea,  that  there  cannot  be  anythinf' 
material  in  use,  when  yet  use  forms  everything  material :  for 
everything  in  general  and  in  particular  is  for  use  and  accord- 
ing to  use  ;  and  as  there  is  nothing  material  in  use,  by  which 
yet  all  things,  as  it  were,  are  formed,  it  became  evident  to  me 
from  the  spiritual  idea,  that  use  is  Divine,  because  it  forms, 
and  that  it  is  absurd  to  think  of  its  being  natural ;  for  the 
natural  cannot  be  distinguished  from  the  material :  just  as  heat, 
moisture,  dew,  rain,  because  natural,  are  at  the  same  time 
material.' — (n.  2512.) 

"  Still  in  his  '  Prodromus,'  as  I  have  already  stated,  the  soul 
is  a  part  of  nature.  ...  So  much  the  more  interesting-, 
however,  is  liis  metamorphosis.  Among  the  most  effective 
reasons  by  which  this  was  brouglit  about,  there  was  no  doubt 
his  own  spiritual  experience.  Thus  we  find  also  in  antiquity, 
that  the  first  philosopher  who  taught  that  the  spirit  is  sepa- 
rate from,  or  independent  of  matter,  viz.,  Anaxagoras,  was 
the  immediate  disciple  of  Hermotimus,  wlio,  according  to  four- 
teen witnesses  of  the  ancients,  was  in  a  state  similar  to  that 
of  Swedenborg." 


99.  The  Editor  of  the  "  New  Church  Quariebly," 
(Vol.  I.,  pp.  8,  etc.,)  alluding  to  the  change  by  which  Sweden- 
borg from  a  materialist  became  a  spiritualist,  examines  the 
subject  more  at  large ;  he  says  : — 

"  The  change  to  which  Dr.  Tafel  alludes  in  one  part  of  the 
preceding  letter,  as  having  led  Swedenborg  away  from  the 
mere  exegesis  of  material  or  mechanical  laws,  is  in  many 
parts  of  his  writings  referred  to  by  the  author  himself.  His 
metamorphosis  is  plainly  spoken  of,  for  example,  in  '  Arcatia 
Coelestia,'  (n.  3985,)  where  he  informs  us,  that  during  his 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


183 


transit  from  the  lower   sphere  of  thought  a  heaven  y  bght 
Ippol  ed  to  him,  which  accelerated  his  progress  and  ed  h.m 
!nward   so  that  he  could  look  down  upon  worldly  and  corpo- 
eTide'a   a   no  longer  belonging  to  himself.     So  true  .s  one  of 
S  llTaphorisms:  '  L.a.o  e.aueseU  cu,nipsa  e^„pare^. 
u  In  the  '  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,   Vol.  III., 
whon  nroceeding  to  treat  on  'how  forms  are  successively  ex- 
Iltdiro    uch^s  are  more  perfect,' he  cautions  the  reader 
£t '  he  is  speaking  only  of  natural  things,  not  of  those  wh.ch 
a"  above  Jture,  al  the  spiritual  and  the  d.vme,  concerning 
w^ich  neither  quality,  nor  mode,  nor  any  otl-  accident  ex- 
cent  by  the  way  of  supereminence,  can  be  predicated      Th  s 
caution  is  the  m'ore  remarkable,  perhaps,  when  conuec^ed  with 
hi»  own  efforts  in  some  of  the  subsequent  pages  to  arrive  at  a 
cLeptil   of  the   spiritual  through    an  evolution  of  forms. 
rAnS  c  beings  and  our  own  souls,'  he  observes,  'cannot  prop- 
erijbe  called^spiritual  [consequently  supra-naturalj  forms  but 
rather  more  perfect  celestial  [i.  e.  inmost  natural,  from  c«,!«m, 
h    Lreal  heaven  of  the  natural  world]   forms,  ci.a  ed  and 
accommodated  to   the  reception  and  influx  of   t^  ^P"f^ 
forr     This  is  altogether  so  singular  that  we  cannot  pass  on 
wItLt  taking  an  accurate  observation  of  Swedenborg  s  posi- 

'-:  r^r  Jul  Lpleted  his  description  of  the^per^- 

„al  vortical,'  or  the  form  '  which  -  P7«f  ^^f ,  taCal 
and  which  he  had  designated  as  '  the  highest  of  all  natural 
form?    It  is  the  form  which  alone  rules  in  the  expanse  of 
he  sWereal  infinitude :  its  centre  is  neither  a  point,   nor  a 
ctl    nor  a  spiral,  but  a  vortical  gyre  ;  it  is  the  '  very  begin- 
nS  of  all  the   active  forces  of  nature:  '  most  constant  of 
a  1  forms  to  its  integral  state  : '  '  void  of  «?-  of  ex^e    e     f 
magnitude,  of  weight,  and  of  lightness,  therefore  '^o   '"'^  «"^1- 
Its  real  existence,  nevertheless,  was  not  to  be  1-Wjn    he 
slightest  shade  of  doubt,  for  without  ^^'-^J-'!-  '  ^"'^  "^^^ 
lower  forms,  the  fluxion  of  the  simple  fibre  in  the  animal 
kingdom,  and  other  pure  essences  could  not  exist      ... 

"The  Author,  when  he  arrived  at  this  point,  appears  to 
have  b  en  sensible  that  he  was  theorizing  beyond  -P-^,^ 
in  imitation   of  the  great  master   of    gentile    philosophy  - 


184 


SWEDENBORG*S  PDILOSOPHT. 


Aristotle  ;  and  he  therefore  boldly  pleads,  in  the  way  of  excuse 
the  uecessity  he  was  under  of  trusting  to  a  rational  induction. 
The  gist  of  his  argument  is  sutficieutly  simple,  namely — al- 
though but  a  few  of  the  phenomena  of  this  aura  emerge  into 
the  sphere  of  our  senses,  yet  its  existence  is  not  to  be  doubted ; 
for  without  it  there  could  be  nothing  to  enter  by  influx  into  the 
really  demonstrable  forms,  and  without  such  influx  even  these 
could  not  subsist.     This   supreme  aura,  however,  though   be- 
yond the  reach  of  experimental  philosophy,  could  be  grappled 
by  geometrical  analysis,    or   abstraction  of  forms,    and   this 
capability,  considered  in  connection  with  the  argument  for  the 
necessity  of  such  a  form,  completed  the  evidence  in  its  favor, 
and  brought  it  within  the  bounds  of  nature,  or  finite  things. 
Whether  we  are  to  identify  this  conception  with  the  last  analysis 
of  matter,  or  consider  it  as  evidence  of  something  superior  to 
material  laws,  can  hardly  remain  a  question  when  it  is  known 
that  the  author  puts  it  forward  as  the   proper  exponent  of  the 
'ens   simplex'  of  Wolflf,  the   'monad'  of   Leibnitz,   and  the 
'  materia  prima '  of  more  ancient  philosophers. 

"  This  celestial  form,  then,  was  the  last  which  the  author 
could  approach  even  by  a  process  of  mathematical  abstraction, 
and  seeing  that  it  was  just  within  the  bounds  of  nature,  and 
therefore  subject  to  the  highest  laws  of  fluxion,  or  to  the  most 
subtle  touches  of  time  and  space  (by  which  natural  things  are 
distinguished  from  spiritual),  it  was  almost  compulsory  on  him, 
either  to  attribute  this  form  to  the  soul,  or  to  call  the  soul 
spiritual :  by  the  former  it  was  made  a  part  of  nature,  by  the 
latter  alternative  (according  to  the  philosophical  definition  of 
the  word  '  spiritual ')  it  was  deprived  of  figure  and  exteuse  ; 
to  avoid  one  horn  of  this  dilemma,  our  author  describes 
angels  and  human  souls,  not  as  celestial  or  highest  natural 
forms,  but  as  '  more  perfect  forms  of  this  kind  ' ;  and  yet,  that 
he  might  escape  the  other,  not  as  spiritual  forms,  but  forms 
adapted  to  receive  the  spiritual— ac?  receptionem  et  influxum 
forma  spiritualis  creatce  et  accomodatce.  It  is  worth  notice  that 
the  schoolmen  who  preceded  Swedenborg  had,  in  their  way, 
arrived  at  a  like  result. 

"  '  Whatever,*  they  reasoned,  '  actuates  matter,  puts  it  into 
shape,  and  causes  its  existence  or  development,  is  substance ; 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


185 


hut  form  does  all  this,  therefore  form  is  substance.'     This^  is 
almost  the  counterpart  of  Swedenborg's  idea  of  the  relation 
between  the  perpetual  vortical  and  spiritual  forms,  but,  unfor- 
tunately,  it  was  not  only  put  forth  as  a  mere  syllogism  itse  f 
but  it   was   preceded   and  followed  by  mere  syllogisms,  the 
substratum  of  facts  peculiar  to  Swedenborg's  unique   method 
beinc.  wholly  wanting.     In  consequence  of  this  lack  of  imple- 
tion  Uie  poor  reasoners  were  sadly  posed,  by  questions  which 
may  appear  easy  of  determination  to  those  who  possess  this 
Lble  advantage  of  Swedenborg's  philosophica    insight  and 
spiritual  intercourse.     What  is  meant,  it  was  asked  by  actu- 
Ig  matter  ?     By  giving  it  existence  and  figure  ?     And  wha 
form  can  you  demonstrate  but  what  is  the  adjunct  of  matter 
itself^     In  this  way  what  the  Thomists  or  Scotists,  as  men, 
built  up  in  day-time,  they  pulled  down,  like  mischievous  gnomes 

and  fairies,  in  the  night. 

» It  was  because  he  saw  the  utter  futilily  of  these  proceed- 
ings that  our  author  resolved  to  commence  a  new  era,  by 
eliminating  his  metaphysical  doctrines  from  the  analysis  of 
nirial  things;  and  thus  he  really  gained  a  position  from 
wMch  it  was  Impossible  he  could  be  driven.     Havmg  inferred 
an  'incomprehensible'  and  'inexpressible'  form  and  force, 
from  the  insufficiency  of  his  purest  substance  to  account  for 
the  phenomena  of  life,  and  having  acquamted  himself  with  all 
the  accidents  and  modes  of  nature,  he  was  also  gradually  pre- 
paring to  speak  'e.  odditis  et  visis'  (from  thmgs  heard  an^ 
Ln)%nd  could  never  be  surprised  into  a  sun-ender  of  us 
argument;  he  was  invincible  on  the  very  ground  which  the 
metaphysicians  had  been  compelled  to  abandon. 

"  L  evidence,  however,  that,  after  all,  his  spiritual  experi- 
ence was  corrective  of  his  position,  we  quote  the  foUo^ving 
interesting  passage  from  the  '  Spiritual  Diary.'-It  exhibits 
most  clearij  what  relation  the  '  celestial  form,'  or  aura  of 
rpltsohy,  bears  to  the  human  mind;  the  same  U.ing 
being   spoken  of    in  this   passage   as   the   'purest   ethereal 

'^^r?Th«e  are  four  natural  spheres  which  arise  from  the 
sun ;  the  atmosphere  which  causes  hearing  is  known  A 
purer  atmosphere,  separate  from  the  aerial,  is  that  which  pro- 

16* 


186 


SWEDENBORGS    PHILOSOPHY. 


SWEDENBORG*S    PHILOSOPHY. 


187 


duces  sight,  or  causes  things  to  be  seen,  by  the  reflections  of 
light  from  all  olijects :  how  far  this  atmosphere  penetrates  into 
the  natural  mind,  and  whether  it  presents  material  ideas  as 
thej  are   called,  or  phantasies  and  imaginations,  cannot  be 
clearly  stated,  but  it  appears  probable,  from  various  considera- 
tions.    This,  then,  will  be  the  first  atmosphere,  which  rei^-ns 
in   the  natural  mind.     Another  atmosphere,   which  is  a  still 
purer  ether,  is  that  which  produces  the  magnetic  forces,  which 
reign  not  only  about  the  magnet  in  particular,  but  also  around 
the  Avhole  globe  ;  but  to  what  extent,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
describe ;  it  produces  there  the  situation  of  the  entire  terra- 
queous globe,  according  to  the  poles  of  the  world,  and  also 
many  things  which  are  known  respecting  the  elevations  and 
inclinations  of  the  magnet.     This  sphere,  in  the  natural  mind, 
appears  to  produce  reasonings,  in  which,  however,  a  spiritual 
principle  must  needs  be  present,  that  they  may  live,  as  like- 
wise in  the  sight,  and  in  every  other  sense,  in  order  that  they 
may  perceive.     The  purest  ethereal  sphere   is  that  universal 
sphere  in  the  universe  which  exists  around  the  ratiocinations 
of  the  same  mind.     Hence  it  is  that  this  mind  is  called  the 
natural  mind,  and   its  interior  operations,  when  perverse,  are 
called  ratiocinations,  but  when  according  to  order,  they  are 
simply  called  reason,  and  are  a  species  of  thoughts,  by  virtue 
of  the  spiritual  influx  into  them.     These  spheres  arise  from 
the  sun,  and  may  be  called  solar,  and  are  consequently  natu- 
ral.    With   respect  to  the   interior  mind,  however,  there  is 
nothing  in  it  that  is  natural,  but  what  is  spiritual,  and  in  the 
inmost  mind  is  what  is  heavenly  or  celestial.     These  principles 
are  produced  by  God  Messiah  alone,  and  are  living,  and  are 
to  be  called  spiritual  and  heavenly  spheres.'— S.  D.  222. 

"  This  passage  disposes  of  the  notion  that  our  souls  are 
'foniK^  coelestes  perfediores;  (more  perfect  celestial  forms,)  in  a 
most  satisfactory  manner ;  what  they  really  are,  however,  it 
does  not  show,  or  intimate  even  by  analogy.     .     .     .  • . 

"  Correspondence  is  the  lex  magna  which  mediates  between 
natural  and  spiritual  things  ;  for  one  mechanical  form  is  only 
within  another  within  certain  limits,  passing  beyond  which  we 
enter  the  region  of  ideas,  whicli  such  forms  had  only  repre- 
sented in  a  certain  image.     The  more  we  multiply  the  sides  or 


an^-les  of  a  polygon,  for  example,  the  nearer  we  approach  a 
circle  but  we  can  only  arrive  at  the  idea  of  a  perfect  circle  by 
the  total  dissolution  of  the  angles  contained  in  the  polygon ; 
in  like  manner,  also,  the  circle  must  be  utterly  dissolved  m 
order  that  the  spiral  may  succeed,  and  so  on  to  the  highest 
natural  form  ;  when,  at  length,  the  most  occult  laws  oi  geom- 
etry with  every  vestige  of  space  and  time  must  pass  away,  in 
order  that  we  may  comprehend  the  existence  and  form  of  pure 
spiritual  substance.     Swedenborg  has  himself  spoken  directly 
on  this  subject  in  the  '  Spiritual  Diary '  ;— 

ui  .     .     I  was  afterwards  led  by  the  Lord  so  as  to 

have  some  perception  of  forms,  the  idea  of  which  exceeds  im- 
measurably  those   drawn   from   geometry;     for   the   lowest 
human  forms,  those  of  the  intestines,  for  instance,  exceed  the 
forms  of  all  geometric  notions  to  such  a  degree,  that  they  can- 
not be  perceived  by  them  at  all ;  and  if  the  intestinal  spirals 
and  the  forms  described  by  them,  and  siill  more  the  forms  of 
their  operations  are  such,  that  the  most  subtle  of  them  cannot 
be  conceived  at  all  by  the  geometricians  and  their  ca  cu  us  of 
infinites,  because  they  transcend  indefinitely  their  calculus  of 
infinites,  how  then  can  the  forms  of  the  more  subtile  organs  be 
perceived  by  them  from  their  geometrical  formulae,  and  how 
the  vital  forms,  or  those  accommodated  for  the  reception  of 
life,  which  transcend  the  organic  forms  indefinitely,  and  also 

the  sight.     .     .     .     ?'— n.  3482.  ,.1.%^     . 

cc  c  .    The  limits  of  geometry  are  such  that  it  does 

not  even'relch  to  the  detection  of  the  operations  connected 
with  the  evacuation  of  the  excrements,  and  still  less  to  the 
form  of  the  intestines,  which  are  far  above  the  geometrical 
calculusoftheinfinites.'— n.  3483. 

"  '  Lest,  therefore,  I  should  be  held  in  these  lowest  and 
most  finite  things,  a  notion  was  given  to  me  from  the  Lord  of 
forms  which  transcend  geometrical  forms;  for  geometry  ends 
in  the  circle,  and  the  curves  which  have  reference  to  the  circle  ; 
all  of  which  are  terrestrial,  and  do  not  reach  to  the  lowest 
atmosphere,  not  even  to  water.  By  removing  from  these  low- 
est or  terrestrial  form  imperfections,  such  as  those  which  cause 
gravity,  rest,  cold,  etc.,  it  was  granted  to  me  to  see  m  a  most 
general  manner  forms  which  are  not  thus  impeded ;  and  because 


188 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


some  of  these  imperfections  still  remained,  forms  were  per 
ceived  which  were  less  limited,  and  again  such  as  were  still 
freer,  until  finally  forms  were  presented  in  which  not  even  a 
centre  could  be  conceived  of  in  any  point  whatsoever,  so  that 
they  consisted  of  mere   centres ;    afterwards  all  circles   and 
peripheries,  every  point  of  which   thus  far  had  reference  to 
centres,  and  vice  versa,  and  together  with  them  the  whole  of 
the  lowest  form  was  removed,  in  which  form  those  boundaries 
arc  contained  which  constitute  the  limits  of  space  and   time 
and  I  at  last  beheld  myself  transferred  to  forms  which  are' 
almost  without  any  boundaries,  and  thus  without  spaces  and 
times.     Nevertheless  all  these  forms  are   still  finite,  because 
an  idea  may  still  be  conceived  of  them,  by  withdrawing  from 
them  to  a  certain  extent  such  things  as  are  more  finited  ;  yet 
they  still  remain  finite,  and  all  these  forms  are  still  within  the 
limits  of  nature,  and  are  without  life.     Wherefore  as  Ion-  as 
the  mind  keeps  itself  or  is  kept  within  these  forms  it  is°still 
without  life,  but  the  things  which  are  within  or  above  them 
are  alive  from  the  Lord,  and  yet  they  are  organical,  because 
like  the  forms  in  nature  they  have  no  life  in  themselves.    From 
all  these  considerations  I  now  perceive,  while  I  am  writino- 
concerning  forms,  that  no  one  is  ever  enabled  by  abstraction  to 
have  any  conception  of  the  forms  which  are  contained  within 
the  natural  forms  ;  I  confess  at  last,  that  within  the  most  subtle 
forms  of  nature  there   are   spiritual  forms,  which   can   never 
become  perceptible.' — n.  3484. 

"  But  if  such  was  the  language  of  Swedenborg  when  takin^r 
a  retrospective  glance  at  his  own  masterly  efforts,  it  will  be 
interesting  to  compare  it  with  his  prospective  views  as  a  philos^ 
opher : — 

"  '  The  doctrine  of  series  and  degrees,  however,  only  teaches 
the  distinction  and  relation  between  things  superior  and  infe- 
rior, or  prior  and  posterior ;  it  is  unable  to  express  by  any 
adequate  terms  of  its  own,  those  things  that  transcend  the 
sphere  of  familiar  things.  If,  therefore,  we  would  ascend  to  a 
higher  altitude,  we  must  use  terms  which  are  still  more  ab- 
stract, universal,  and  eminent,  lest  we  confound  with  the  cor^ 
poreal  senses  things  of  which  we  ought  not  only  to  have  distinct 
perceptions,  but  which,  in  reality,  are  distinct.     Hence  it  is 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


189 


nece<^sary  to  have  recourse  to  Mathematical  Philosophy  of 
Universals,  which  shall  be  enabled  not  only  to  signify  higher 
ideas  by  letters  proceeding  in  simple  order,  but  also  to  reduce 
them  to  a  certain  philosophical  calculus,   in  its  form  and  m 
some  of  its  rules  not  unlike  the  analysis  of  the  mfinites ;  for 
in  hi-her  ideas,  much  more  in  the  highest,  things  occur  too 
inefrrble  to  be  represented  by  common  ideas.     But,  in  truth, 
what  an  herculean  task  must  it  be  to  build  up  a  system  of  this 
kind  '     What  a  stupendous  exercise  of  intellectual  powers  does 
it  require  !     For  it  demands  the  vigilance  of  the  entire  animal 
mind   and  the  assistance  also  of  the  superior  mind  or  soul,  to 
whicii  science  is  proper  and  natural,  and  which  represents 
nothin-  to  itself  by  the  signs  used  in  speech,  takes  nothing 
from  the  common  catalogue  of  words,  but  by  means  of  the 
primitive  and  universal  doctrine  we  have  mentioned,— connate 
both  with  itself  and  with  the  objects  of  nature, -abstracts  out  ot 
all  thin-s  their  nature  and  essence ;  and  prepares  and  evolves 
each  in  ^he  mutest  silence.     To  this  universal  science,  therefore, 
all  other  sciences  and  arts  are  subject ;  and  it  advances  through 
their  innermost  mysteries  as  it  proceeds  from  its  own  princi- 
pies  to  causes,  and  from  causes  to  effects,  by  its  own,  that  is, 
by  the  natural  order.     This  will  be  very  manifest,  if  we  con- 
template the  body  of  the   soul,  the  viscera  of  the  body,  the 
sensory  and  motory  organs,  and   the  other  parts  whica  are 
framed  for  dependence   upon,  and  connection   and  harmony 
with,  each  other ;  in  fine,  are  fitted  to  the  modes  of  umversa 
nature ;  and  this,  so  nicely,  skilfully,  and  wonderfully,  that 
there  is  nothing  latent  in  the  innermost  and  abstrusest  princi- 
pics  of  nature,  science  or  art,  but  the  soul  has  the  knowledge 
and  power  of  evoking  to  its  aid,  according  as  its  purposes  re- 
quire:— Econoimj  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,  Part  II.,  n.  211. 

"  Locke,  as  Swedenborg  afterwards  mentions,  hinted  at  the 
necessity  there  was  to  elicit  this  '  science  of  sciences,'  and  our 
author  himself  has  more  definitively  alluded  to  it,  in  his  '  Intro- 
duction to  Rational  Physiology,'  where  he  speaks  of  the  ascent 
from  the  sphere  of  particular  and  common  expressions,  to  that 
of  universal  and  general  ones,  and  quotes  the  celebrated  Wolti 
as  an  authority  for  including  such  a  mathematical  philosophy 
amon-  the  desiderata  of  learning.     That  it  had  become  the 


190 


SWEDENBORG's  PniLOSOPHT. 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


191 


one  TuVm^  idea  in  his  own  mind  is  again   evident  from  the 
epilo^^ue  to  the  second  part  of  the  '  Animal    Kingdom,'  where 
he  reverts  to  it   as   the   means   for  promoting  a  connection  or 
concentration  of  all  the  sciences  into  one ;  so  tliat  the  soul  might 
descend   through  all  tlie  mysteries  of  geometry,  mechanrcs, 
physics,  chemistry,  optics,  acoustics,  pneumatics,  logic,  psy- 
chology, etc.,    as   through  its   familiar  haunts,  into  °the  very 
work-rooms  of  the   social  fabric.     It  was  not,  however,  as  a 
mere  synthesis  of  the   sciences,  that  Swedenborg  had  enter- 
tained this  bold  conception,  but  as  a  means  of  unlocking  the 
most  profound  secrets  of  our  being,  and  of  bringing  the° con- 
test between  truths  and  assumptions  to  a  glorious  consumma- 
tion ;  and  because,  in  short,  he  felt  it  impossible  to  carry  his 
analysis  of  the  operations  of  nature  to  any  ulterior  conclusions 
without  it. 

"  While,  howTver,  it  was  certainly  his  intention  to  elicit  the 
formula?  of  this  universal  science,  and  present  the  world  with 
a  complete  apparatus  for  the  computation  and  deduction  of 
truths,  ^t  is  just  as  certain  that  he  left  his  'herculean  labor' 
unfinished.     We  infer,  therefore,  that  on  his  actual  intromis- 
sion into  the  sphere  which  he  had  approached  with  so  much 
labor,  he  discovered  that  the  highest  flights  of  liis  genius  were, 
after  all,  on  a  level  with  mere  observation  ;  that  a  course  of 
experience  awaited   him,   and  those   who  might  become  his 
followers,  which  not   only  supplied   the  place  of  his  highest 
physical  deductions,  but  carried  them  infinitely  further  "that 
henceforth  the  necessity  of  inventing  characters  and  methods, 
as  a  means  of  arriving  at  psychological  truths,  must  be  over- 
ruled by  the  sensuous  discernment  of  psychological  phenomena ; 
that  in  this  way  it  had  been  the  good  pleasure  of  the  Lord  to 
lead  him  away  from  those  metaphysical  subtleties  into  which 
he  must  otherwise  have  plunged  himself,  and  which  (in  their 
logical  form)  he  had  himself  condemned  in  the  schools,  and, 
finally,  that  this  very  experience  would  furnish  the  rules  of  a 
true  metaphysical  doctrine  for  the  future  church. 

"  This  view  is  strongly  confirmed  by  what  our  author  has 

said  m  respect  to  the  introductory  rules  of  his  proposed  science 

ofuniversals,  in  his  '  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kinsdom:  Part  I 
n.  G48 :-—  6        ,  ., 


u  Jf  we  would  explore  the  efficient,  rational,   and  principal 
causes  of  the  operations  and   effects  existing  in  the  animal  body, 
twill  he  necessary  first  to  inquire  what  things,  in  a  superior 
dearee  correspond  to  those  which  are  in  an  inferior  degree,  and  hy 
It  lame  Lj  are  to  he  called.     In  other  words,  what  thmgs 
none  and  the  same  series  mutually  succeed  each  other,  are 
dependent  on  and  have  respect  to  each   other  by  degrees ;  for 
so  separate  from  each  other  do  they  appear,  that  without  the 
most  internal  and  analytic  rational  intuition,  it  seems  impos- 
sible  that  the  things  of  a  superior  degree  should  be  recognized 
and  acknowledged  as  the   superior  forms  of  thmgs  inferior , 
for  the  sensory  of  the  inferior  fonns,  they  are  mcomprehen. 
sible,  and  appear  as  in  continuity  with  them  (n.  62o-o26) .     In 
othei'  words,  unless  the  things  of  the  inferior  degree  were  dis- 
tinct  from  those  of  the   superior,  they  could  not  be  compared 
S;  a  substance  which  subsists  by  itself  (n    589),  but  would 
be  the  same  things  with  the  superior  ones,  taken  in  the  aggre- 
gate, or  collectively  (n.  629-630).     In  order  then  to  ascertam 
and  to  know  what  that  is  in  a  superior  degree  wdiich  corre.- 
ponds  to  its  proper  inferior,  rules  must  be  discovered  to  guide 
us  in  pointing  it  out,  which  we  are  enabled  to  do  under  any  of 
the  followinii:  circumstances  : — 

"  1    la  case  ia  the  several  things,  which  are  beneath  any 
Kiven'one,  and  not  only  in  the  one  proximately  beneath,  but 
I  all  which  follow,  it  be  fonnd  to  be  '.lie  common  and.  unu^r- 
sally  reigning  principle.     2.  In  case  it  be  so  d.stmct  from  tl  e 
perior'that^t  subsists  by  itself;  oris  able  not  only  to  sub- 
sist to.e.l,er  with  the  other,  but  separately  by  Uself  w.thout  >t. 
3    In  case  it  be  unknown  whether  it  be  its  supenor  coiTespou- 
dent    except  by  way  of  analogy  and  eminence ;  and  we  are 
tn  'rant  o'f  its'quailty  except  by  reflection,  or  by  the  knowl- 
edge  of  inferior  Ihings,  as  in  a  minor.     4.  Hence  mease 
has  to  be  marked  by  an  entirely  different  name.     5.  In  case 
?her   be  a  connection  between  the  two,  otherwise  the  super.or 
and  inferior  entity  of  that  series  would  have  no  dependenoe 
on  each  other,  or  Ltual  relation.     '  By  reflect.on  and  abs  ra- 
tion alone,'  says  Woltf,  '  universal  notions  are  not  made  emu- 
plete  and  determinate.     For  reflection  - -holly  occup.edu 
the  successive  direction  of  the  attention  to  general  principles , 


/ 


/ 


192 


SWEDEXBORG's    PniLOSOPHY. 


swedenborg's  philosophy. 


193 


nor  is  anything  obtained  by  abstraction,  except  that  those  gen- 
eral  principles  are  seen  to  be  different  from  the  objects  of  per- 
ception in  wliich  they  exist.     .     .     .     Thus  it  does  not  hence 
appear,  Avhethcr  those  general  principles  contain  more  or  fewer 
particulars    than    are   sufficient   to     .     .      .     distinguish   the 
things  of  tliat  gccus  or  species  from  those  of  another. 
Therefore  it  is  unknown,  whether  they  are  complete  and  deter- 
ininate.'     (Psychologia  Rationalis,  §  401.)     '  The  making  the 
discovery,  therefore,  is  a  zcork  demanding  hoth  a  hwwlcdge  of 
facts  and  skill  in  judging  of  them :  for  if  we  rely  either  on 
reason  Avithout  facts,  or  on  facts  without  reason,  our  endeavor 
to  find  what  we  seek  will  be  to  no  purpose.' 
^  "  The  observance  of  these  rules  in  a  course  of  investiga- 
tion would  doubtlessly  have  led  to  a  strong  presumption°in 
favor  of  the  separate  existence  of  the  soul ;  but  when  its  sep- 
arate existence  is  actually  seen,  that  experience  and  not  these 
rules  becomes  the  foundation   of  the   metaphysical   structure  ; 
and  the  physical   inductions  themselves,  as  we  shall  immedi- 
ately see,  put  on  a  significance  very  different  to  that  which  has 
connected  them  with  the  rules  which  they  suggested. 

"All  the  physiological  truths  elicited  by  Swedenborg  group 
themselves  around  two  centres— the  animation  of  thelbrains, 
and  the  conjoint  relation  of  the  heart  and  lungs  to  the  system! 
The  distribution  of  spiritual  life  by  the  will  and  understand- 
ing, of  which  the  two  brains  are  the  organs,  and  to  which  the 
heart  and  lungs  in  the  second   sphere  of  the  body  respectively 
correspond;  while  the  grand  product  of  the  lungs  to  the  whole 
system,   or  the  motion,  wdiich  we  cannot  say  they  generate, 
but,  which  they  administer  to  all  the  viscera,  etc.,  impwts  also 
by  analogy  the  free  determination   enjoyed  by  man's  spirit, 
which  enables  him  to  act  from  his  own  will  or  intention  ;  this 
analogy  establishes  the  heart  and  lungs  in  a  certain  relation  to 
the  will  and  understanding,  so  that  in  the  word  of  Sweden- 
borg, '  from  the  correspondence  of  the  heart  with  the  will,  and 
of  the  understanding  with  the  lungs,  may  be  known  all  things 
that  can  be  known  of  the  will  and   understanding,   or  of  love 
and  wisdom,   consequently  all  that  can  be  known  of   man's 
soul.'  (Divine  Love  and  Wisdom,  394.)     Coming  as  a  part  of 
the  author's  spiritual  philosophy,  these  few  words  throw  a  light 


of  startling  brilliancy  over  a  wide  field  of  investigation  :  but 
.nsplant  aiem  to  the  list  of  his  philosophical  inductions^sep- 
ainte  them  from  the  experience  of  1745  and  subsequent  years 
;;'    become  a  veritable  apocalyv^is  on  which  reason   might 
Sust  its  resources  in  vain.     It  is  perfectly  mysterious  to 
compare  the  will  to  the  heart,  if  we  suppose  the  same  laws  of 
onnvnd  motion  to  govern  both,    .    .    •    and  the  comparison 
between  the  lungs  and  the  understanding  is  equally  recon  J^^^ 
vet  if  the  true   idea  of  spiritual  existence  is  to  be    arrived  at 
L  a  course  of  mathematical  abstraction,  we  see  no  way  ot 
avoidin<^  the  mystery.     We  may  even  deceive   ourselve   by 
harl^°on  the  terms'analogy  and  correspondence  (for  nature 
is  full  of  analogies)  if  we  do  not  discriminate  between  what  is 
pStual  and  what  is  natural  in  the  terms.*     The  circulat.oa 
of  the  animal  spirit,  for  example,  is  in  a  certam  analogy  to  the 
circulation  of  the  blood,  and  if  an  abstract  geometry  can  be 
supposed  to  present  the  form  of  the  one,  it  can  also,  by  lur- 
theT abstraction,  represent  the  other;  but  then  both  terms  of 
the  analogy  belong  to  the  natural  sphere,  and  this  is  the  reason 
why  we  cannot,  by  a  still  further  abstraction  of  mathematical 
or  mechanical  laws,  obtain  the  representation  of  the   spirit. 
Swedenborg  himself  recognized  this  principle  when  he  aban- 
donedthe  terms  'perpetual  vortical^  or  '  celest^al,    'perpetual 
celestial;  ov  '  spiritual ^  -^ud  '  perpetual  spiritual^  as  exiponeuis 
of  the  living  forces  within   nature,  in  which  sense  he   uses 
them  in  the  '  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,  vol.  in. 

"  The  kind  of  experience  from  which  the  correspondence  ot 
the  human  organization  was  elicited  by  the  author,  is,  we 
believe,  unparalleled.  We  have  just  instanced  the  heart  and 
luncs  as  examples  of  the  manner  in  which  physiological  terms 
are°convertible  into  the  nomenclature  of  psychology.  .  .  • 
This  kind  of  evidence  concerning  spiritual  things  might  be 
added  to  a  thousandfold  from  what  the  author  has  written  on 
these  subjects,  but  we  have  quoted  sufficient  to  establish  our 
position  that  spiritual  things  are  wholly  different  in  kind  from 

*  »  To  this  effect  indeed  are  the  observations  and  rules  of  the  author 
inthelstauotation,whichmaybe  regarded  as  an  effort  to^-om- 
plish  that  by  a  scientific  method,  which  the  mere  opemng  of  his  spir 
itual  sight  has  adapted  even  to  the  simplest  apprehension. 

17 


!' 


194 


SWEDENBORG  S    PHILOSOPIIT. 


material  things ;  and  as  the  author  himself  has  guarded  us 
against  identifying  thorn  as  a  part  of  that  mathematical  unity 
in  which  it  was  his  noble  aim  to  comprise  all  the  sciences. 

"  All  spiritual  activity,  in  short,  is  the  activity  of  affection 
and  thought  ;  and  if  '  geometry  with  its  whole  array  of  infin- 
ites'  cannot  grasp  at  all,  even  'the  forms  of  the  intestines,' 
how  can  we  imagine  that  the  heavenly  forms  of  love  and  in- 
telligence are  to  be  thus  mechanically  represented  ?  The  sim- 
ple truth  is,  that  the  influx  of  spiritual  activity  into  our  natural 
organization  causes  that  organization  to  work  mechanically ; 
and  so  far  as  we  may  be  able  to  represent  its  motions  by  geo- 
metrical lines,  or  by  any  mathematical  calculus,  so  far,  and  no 
farther,  will  the  laws  of  geometry  represent  spiritual  things  as 
they  are  in  themselves." 

This  extract  shows  the  limit  of  natural  philosophy,  and 
where  spiritual  philosophy  commences.  In  case  any  of  our 
readers  wish  to  become  acquainted  with  Swedenborg's  spiritual 
philosophy  after  his  illumination,  we  recommend  to  them  a 
study  of  his  work  on  "  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom,"  which  has 
been  adverted  to  above. 


100.  The  following  summary  of  Swedenborg's  position  in 
philosophy  and  theology  is  given  by  Prof.  Immanuel  Tafel, 
in  his  "  History  and  Criticism  of  Scepticism,''^  pp.  442—446. 

"  Emanuel  Swedenborg  placed  faith  above  reason  and  ex- 
perience, but  he  combined  these  three  spheres  again  into  one, 
and  showed  that  divine  things,  provided  they  are  true,  may  be 
comprehended  as  well  as  natural  things,  and  that  what  cannot 
be  thought  of  in  connection  with  other  things,  can  also  not  be 
believed.  If  we  wish  to  be  just,  we  must  admit  that  it  was 
Swedenborg  who  first  removed  philosophically  the  great  diffi- 
culties contained  in  the  doctrine  of  freedom,  and  that  the  prob- 
lem of  the  world  in  general  was  first  solved  by  him  in  a 
satisfactory  manner.  Wherefore  Fichte  also,  as  it  seems, 
toward  the  last  drew  from  him,  and  only  recently  another 
philosopher  who  had  twice  risen  against  Hegel,  declared  in  a 
journal  of  Northern  Germany,  that  '  in  order  to  have  a  just 
opinion  of  Swedenborg,  we  must  first  learu  a  great  deal  from 
him/  " 


IX. 


SWEDENBORG'S    THEOLOGY. 

We  have  observed  Swedenborg's  progress  through  the 
sciences  and  philosophy,  and  have  seen  how,  beginning  at  the 
lowest  depths  of  nature,  he  gradually  worked  his  way  up  to  the 
very  confines  of  the  spiritual  world.  Here  we  must  leave 
him  ;  for  the  limits  of  our  volume  do  not  permit  us  to  follow 
him  in  his  theological  career.  Our  readers  will  have  to  con- 
tent themselves  with  a  few  extracts  that  we  have  already  given 
in  a  previous  chapter  (nos.  38-40)  ;  but  in  order  to  show  them 
that  Swedenborg  in  his  theological  writings  has  preserved  the 
same  characteristics  which  distinguished  him  in  his  scientific 
career,  and  that  the  eccentricity  and  obscurity  which  are 
frequently  attributed  to  these  writings,  are  in  fact  our  own, 
which  we  impute  to  them,  we  shall  present  to  the  thoughtful 
consideration  of  our  readers  the  following  true  occurrence, 
which  is  related  in  the  same  little  work  from  which  we  have 
quoted  our  extract,  n.  96.  Medicus  Cantahrigiensis  con- 
tinues : — 

"  Not  many  weeks  since  a  brother  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  observed  to  us,  that  he  believed  that  Swe- 
denborg was  a  great  philosopher ;  but  that  when  his  religious 
career  began,  his  unsoundness  of  mind  set  in.  This  observa- 
tion harmonizes  with  the  notions  too  generally  prevalent 
amongst  the  better  educated  portion  of  society  at  the  present 
day.  Many  moreover  of  the  less  educated  are  not  aware  that 
Swedenborg  has  any  claim  whatever  to  the  character  of  a 
philosopher.  They  regard  him  as  a  mere  fanatic,  or  even  as  a 
positive  lunatic,  without  lucid  intervals  ;  whilst  theologians  in 
general  consider  that  his  system  of  theology— his  '  Universal 
Theology,'  as  he  terms  it — is  the  offspring  of  mental  delu- 


sion. 


(195) 


196 


swedenborg's  theology. 


swedenborg's  theology. 


197 


"  Now,  since  theologians  are  especially  interested  in  this 
branch  of  the  question,  we  would  meet  their  view  of  Swe- 
denborg's mental  condition,  by  the  narration  of  a  simple  but 
interesting  fact,  which  occurred  within  the  sphere  of  our  own 
acquaintance.  The  fact  is  connected  with  a  clergyman,  a 
member  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  who,  meeting  with  a 
volume  in  the  library  of  the  Royal  Institution,  entitled  '  The 
True  Christian  Religion,  containing  The  Universal  The- 
ology of  the  New  Church,*  etc.,  was  desirous  of  ascertaining 
the  nature  of  its  contents.  He  was  somewhat  disconcerted  at 
finding  that  Swedenborg  was  the  author  of  the  volume,  but 
nevertheless  took  it  home  for  perusal.  He  read  a  few  pages 
without  making  anything  of  them,  and  his  interest  in  the  work 
ceased.  The  book  was  left  amongst  others  on  a  table,  where 
it  attracted  the  notice  of  his  man-servant,  who  used  to  read  it, 
leaving  it  open  from  time  to  time.  At  length  his  master,  re- 
turning one  day  from  his  round  of  clerical  duty,  and  having 
his  curiosity  excited  at  so  repeatedly  finding  the  book  open, 
asked  the  man  whether  he  was  reading  it.  '  Yes,  sir,'  he  re- 
plied. '  Do  you  understand  it  ?  *  '  Every  word  of  it,  sir ;  it 
is  beautiful ! '  The  answer  induced  my  friend  to  try  the  vol- 
ume again.  He  did  so,  and  the  happy  result  was,  that  he 
became  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  active  defenders  of  the 
system  of  theology  which  Swedenborg  was  the  instrument  of 
propounding  to  mankind. 

'•  Our  friend's  mind  was  pre-occupied  with  ideas  and  thoughts 
that  rendered  Swedenborg's  teaching  unintelligible  to  him. 
The  servant's  mind,  being  free  from  all  such  bias,  was  able  to 
discern  a  meaning  which  was  at  once  simple  and  intelligible, 
where  the  master  thought  all  was  obscure  or  discordant.  But 
the  master,  with  true  moral  courage  and  humility  of  soul,  took 
up  the  book  again,  and  soon  found  that  the  native  simplicity 
of  his  servant's  mind  formed  no  obstacle  whatever  to  the  right 
reception  of  truth,  and  its  enlightening  influence  upon  a  com- 
paratively untrained  intellect. 

"  Our  clerical  friend,  after  an  honest  and  impartial  exami- 
nation of  Swedenborg's  writings,  found  them  throughout  dis- 
tinguished for  wisdom,  intelligence  and  science,  and  in  every 
respect  worthy  of  most  cordial  and  universal  adoption.     And 


af^er  the  lapse  of  many  years,  he,  like  ourselves,  finds  increased 
and  increasing   reasons  to  recommend  them  heartily  to  the 
perusal  of  every  sincere  lover  of  truth,  especially  the  minister 
of  the  Church  of  Christ.    It  would  indeed  be  difficult  for  psycho- 
logists and  theologians  of  the  present  day  to  explain  the  facts, 
that  an  unlettered  servant  was  able  to  discern  that  which  the 
accomplished   scholar  at  first  failed  to  find  in  the   theology 
of  Swedenborg  ;  and  that  the  same  accomplished  scholar,  as 
he  read  and  examined  for  himself,  found  his  prejudices  against 
Swedenborg  vanish,  and  his  mind  become  more  enlightened  by 
the  teaching  of  this  great  and  good  man,  than  by  all  the  learn- 
ing that  the"  University  of  Oxford    could  bestow.     But  let  it 
not  be  supposed  that  this  is  a  solitary  instance  of  the  triumph 
of  that  truth  which  Swedenborg  proclaims.     It  is  one  amongst 
hundreds  of  the  same  kind,  and  can  only  be  ascribed  to  the 
greatest   of    all   psychical  blessings  —  the   possession   of  an 
*  honest  and  good  heart'  in  the  search  of  truth." 

The  following  extract  from  "  Remarks  on  the  Assertions  of 
the  Author  of  the  'Memoirs  of  Jacobinism'  respecting  the 
character  of  Eman.  Swedenborg  and  the  tendency  of  his 
writings,"  (Philadelphia,  1800,)  shows  the  estimate  which  an 
eminent  statesman  placed  upon  Swedenborg's  Theology  in  its 

effect  upon  civil  life. 

"  His  Excellency  the  Senator  Count  Hopken,  when  he  was 
Prime  Minister  of  Sweden,  one  day  observed  to  his  Majesty, 
King  Gustavus,  that  if  the  Swedes  should  hereafter  establish 
any ''colony,  the  doctrine  which  Swedenborg  has   published 
ought  to  be  taught  in  it,  because  that  agreeable  to  the  prin- 
ciples he  lays  down,  the  colonists  would  truly  possess  the  love 
of  God  and  charity  as  the  end  of  all  their  actions  :  that  they 
would  be  active,  industrious,  and  intrepid  in  dangers,  being 
verily  persuaded  that  what  we  call  death  is  no  more  than  a 
passage  from  this  life  to  one  that  is  more  happy,  thus  that  in 
reality  death  is  only  a  continuation  of  life." 


17* 


X. 


THE  PUBLISHED  AND  UNPUBLISHED  SCIENTIFIC 
AND   PHILOSOPHICAL   WORKS 

OF  SWEDENBORG. 

We  divide  Swedenborg's  literary  career  into  three  periods. 
The  first  preparatory  or  chaotic  period  in  which,  as  he  expresses 
it,  he  "  alternated  his  mathematical  works  with  poetry,"  and 
where  he  "  desired  all  possible  novelties,  ay,  a  novelty  for 
every  day  in  the  year,  provided  the  world  be  pleased  with 
them,"  commenced  in  the  year  1709,  when  he  was  twenty-one 
years  old,  and  reaches  to  the  year  1720,  when  he  gathered  up 
his  manifold  energies,  and  on  the  one  hand  "  made  up  his  mind 
■  to  seek  his  fortune  in  his  business,  which  is  all  such  things  as 
concern  the  advancement  of  mining,"  and  on  the  other  pre- 
pared for  those  solid  scientific  and  philosophical  works  which 
belong  to  his  second  period.  This  period  commenced  in  the 
year  1720,  and  extended  to  the  year  1745.  In  this  year  his 
illumination  began,  in  which  his  theological  works  were  writ- 
ten— this  third  period  lasted  to  the  hour  of  his  death  in  1772. 
So  that  Swedenborg's  literary  career  extended  over  sixty- 
three  years,  from  1709  to  1772 ! 

First  Period,  from  1709  to  1720. 

1.  L.  Annaei  Senecae  et  Pub.  Syri  Mimi  forsan  et  aliorum 
Selectae  Sententiae.  Quas  notis  illustratas  edidit  Emanuel 
SvTEDBERG  [Swedenborg].  At  fidem  rarissimas  editionis  prin- 
cipis  anni  1709  denuo  publici  juris  fecit  et  fragmenta  nuper 
reperta  adjecit  Dr,  J,  F,  E,  Tafel,  Tubingje,  1841.— The 
first  edition  was  published  atUpsala,  in  1709. 

Select  Sentences  of  L.  Annaeus  Seneca,  and  Pub.  Syrus 
Mimus,  and  a  few  others,  edited  with  notes  by  Emanuel 
Swedberg  [Swedenborg]. 

(198) 


swedenbokg's  wokks,  etc. 


199 


2    Ludus  Helicouius  sive  Carmina  Miscellanea  qu^variis  in 

loei;   ceciuit  E.ak.  Swehbeko  CS-™^];,^^^ '^^j^J' 

;iofn   Pf   locunletata   recensuit  Br,   J.  i^.  r^mxin.   lajei. 

Si   llSh^fivst  edition  was  published  at  SWa  ia 

^^l?elieonian  Sports  or  Miscellaneous  Poems  written  iu  various 

T^lflpps  bv  Eman.  Swedberg.  .    ,    i 

''t  Camena  Borca  cu,n  Hcroum  et  He-idum  fact,  lud^ns^ 
sive  Fabclte  Ovidianis  similes  cum  varus  noimmbus  scnptoe 
abFMAN  Swedberg  [Swebekborg].  Ad  fidem  ed.t.on^s 
^rindms  anno  1715.  Gryphiswaldia,  excuse  denuo  ed.d.t 
Dr  Jo   Fr.  Im.  Tafel.     Tubing*,  1845. 

N^hern  Muse,   sporting  with   the   deeds  of  heroes   and 
heSes :  or  Fab^  I  the  style  of  Ovid,  with  d.fferent  t.tles, 

written  by  Emau.  Swedberg.  .  Mathp- 

4.  Daedalus  Hypcrborcus,  sive  nova  E^P^^f  ^  ^^'^^ 
mat  ca  et  Physica.     Upsali*,  1716,  1717,  1718.  4to. 

TlUworkf  consisting  of  new  experiments  in  mathematics 
anlphys's,  by  Swed°cnborg  and  several  of  las  sc.ent.fic 
Ws.'vas  published  in  six  parts,  all  of  wh.ch  are  m  Swedish, 
but  the  fifth  par',  has  a  Latin  version  also.  ,      •    „ 

5    Foersoek,  att  Anna  Oes.ra  och  Westra  Laengden  .gen, 
i<.euom  Manan.     Upsala,  1718,  8vo.,  pp.  38. 
TLpts  to  find  the  longitude  of  places  by  lunar  obser- 

^"tUs'is  the  ori.'inal  Swedish  edition  of  the  work  subsequently 
pubSed  n  LatFu  at  Amsterdam  in  1721,  of  which  a  second 
edt  on  was  printed  about  the  year  1766  as  we  learn  from 
a  letter   of  Swedenborg  to   Dr.  Menander,  Archbishop   of 

^T.'' K'egel-Konsten  forfatted  i  Tijo  Bokker,   etc.     Upsala, 

''Alia',  or"thfa;t  of  rules,  comprised  in  ten  books,  etc 

TU  wo  k  is  reviewed  at  considerable  length  in  the  Acta 
llraria  Sued.,  (vol.  i.  p.  126,)  and  is  -^l-^^^f^^^^lf^ 
honor-not  only  because  the  author  was  the  first  Swede  who 
troti  on  the  hfgher  branches  of  the  subject,  but  for  the  excel- 
Inc^of  the  treatise  itself,  the  clearness  of  the  la«  and 
the  examples  showing  the  application  and  uses  of  the  rules. 


200 


SWEDENBORG'S   SCIENTIFIC 


AND   PHILOSOPHICAL  WORKS. 


201 


Each  book  is  divided  into  three  parts.  The  foUowin'r  is  a 
brief  outline  of  the  contents  of  this  work  :—  ^ 

Book  I.  contains  the  definitions  and  explanations  of  the 
terms  employed,  and  the  simpler  arithmetical  processes. 

Book  II.  The  mechanical  powers,  the  lever,  pulley,  inclined 
plane,  etc.,  with  a  variety  of  problems. 

Book  III.  The  laws  of  proportions  and  ratios  ;  also  with 
numerous  problems. 

Book  IV.  Geometrical  theorems,  stereometry,  and  specific 
gravity. 

Book  V.     The  properties  of  the  Parabola  and  Hyperbola. 
^  Book  VI.     The  properties  of  the  Parabola  more  fully  con- 
sidered, with  numerous  other  problems. 

Book  VII.  On  the  theory  of  Projectiles  and  Artillery,  with 
many  problems. 

Books  VIII.,  IX.,  X.  On  adfectcd  Roots,  and  on  the  in- 
tegral  and  differential  Calculus. 

7.  Om  AVattnens  Iloegd,  och  foerra  Werldens  starka  Ebb 
ochFlod,BewisuturSNverige.     Stockholm,  1719,  8vo.,  pp.40 

Arguments  derived  from  appearances  in  Sweden  in  favor 
of  the  depth  of  the  water  and  greater  tides  of  the  sea  in  the 
ancient  world. 

8.  De  Monetarum  Mensurarumque  Ordinatione  Decimali 
On  the  Decimal  System  of  Moneys  and  Measures,  to  facili- 
tate calculation  and  abolish  fractions.  This  work  was  pub- 
lished m  Swedish  with  the  following  title,  "Forsla-  till  vart 
Mynts  och  Mais  Indelning."  Upsala,  1719,  4to.  In  the  Cat- 
alogue  of  the  Upsala  Library,  another  edition  of  this  work  in 
octavo,  1795,  is  mentioned. 

9.  Om  Jordenes  och  Planeternas  Gang  och  Stand.  Skara 
1719,  8vo.  ' 

On  the  Motion  and  Position  of  the  Earth  and  Planets. 

10.  Om  Vennerus  ftillende  och  stigande. 

On  the  rise  and  fall  of  Lake  Wenner,  with  an  accurate 
sketch  of  the  cataracts  of  the  river  Gotha  Elf. 

This  is  a  manuscript  dissertation  of  Swedenborg's,  founded 
on  various  observations  transmitted  to  him  in  letters  by  scien- 
tific persons.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  Acta  Literaria  Suecice 
(p.  3),  but   the   notice   does   not  say  whether  it  was  ever 


printed,  nor  is  the  size  of  the  dissertation  stated  Eeference 
I  made,  however,  to  page  79,  and  the  review  would  lead  us  to 
suppose  that  the  original  treatise  was  a  very  mterestmg  work. 

11  On  Docks,  Sluices  and  Saltworks.  1719.  ^ 

This  work  is  recorded  by  Dr.  Wilkinson  as  having  been 
written  by  Swedenborg  in  Swedish  ;  we  could  not  find  any 
Xence  Lit  in  any  other  author,  nor  does  it  seem  to  have 

been  noticed  in  the  Acta  Literaria,  ^      ^ 

12  Fabulade  Amore  et  Metamorphosi  Uranies  in  Virum 
et  in  famulum  Apollinis ;  ad  iUustrissimum  et  excellentissi- 
mum  R  S.  Senatorem,  comitem  Mauritium  Wellmk.  Naupo- 
tami,  1722.     4to.  carmine  elegiaco.  ^ 

This  poem  is  noticed  in  the  '  Acta  Literaria,  vol.  i.  p.  5»y. 

To  the  unpublished  works  of  Swedenborg  of  this  period 

helono-s  the  collection  of 

n    Original  Letters  and  Papers  hy  Emanuel  Swedenborg, 
discovered  at  the  Gymnasium  of  Linkoping  in  Sweden. 
This  collection  contains  the  following  articles  ;— 
1.  Petenda  Societatis  Literariae. 
2    Project  for  a  new  Society  of  Sciences  at  Upsala. 
3*.  Plan  and  description  of  a  Flying  Machine. 
4.  On  the  Causes  of  Things. 

5    On  ihe  Improvement  of  Trade  and  Manufactures. 

e!  On  the  Establishment  of  Saltpetre  Works  in  Sweden. 

7.  On  the  Nature  of  Fire  and  Colors. 

8    A  new  Method  of  Sailing  against  the  Wind. 

9.  Machinery  for' carrying  Vessels  against  the  Stream. 

10.  A  '  Dragmaschin.'  ,  •        * 

11.  Memorandums  on  some  minor  trials  and  experiments. 

12    On  different  sorts  of  Soils  and  Muds. 

13*  Project  and  Calculation  for  a  Pile-driving  Machine. 

14.  Proportiones  Aerometricae,  and  new  Stereometric  Rules. 

15.  Description  of  a  Crane. 

16.  New  ways  of  discovering  Mines  and  Treasures. 


♦  To  the  account  of  Swedenborg's  works,  Nos.  5  to  12,  we  are  in- 
debted to  Dr.  Ch.  Edw.  Strutt  in  his  translation  of  Swedenborg  s  work 
on  Chemistry.— Edit. 


202 


SWEDENBORG'S   SCIENTIFIC 


AUD  PHILOSOPHICAL  WORKS. 


203 


17.  New  method  of  finding  Longitudes  by  Lunar  Observa- 
tions. 

18.  On  Mechanical  Inventions. 

19.  An  Anthropological  Treatise. 

20.  On  the  Sulphureous  quality  of  the  Atmosphere. 

The  letters  addressed  to  BenzeUus,  the  brother-in-law  of 
Swedenborg,  are  written  on  the  following  subjects  : — 

21.  Respecting  his  appointment  as  Assessor  of  the  Board 
of  Mines. 

22.  On  a  peculiar  Air-pump  to  be  worked  by  Water. 

23.  On  Mechanical  Inventions,  1715. 

24.  Containing  information  respecting  Charles  XII.,  1715. 

25.  On  calculating  Interest  by  means  of  a  Triangle,  1716. 

26.  On  the  regulation  of  Salaries  in  a  Mathematical  Society, 
1716. 

27.  On  his  Invention  of  a  method  of  finding  the  Lon'^itude, 
1716. 

28.  On  the  construction  of  a  Canal  between  Gottenburg  and 
Lake  Hjelmar,  1717. 

29.  On  the  same  Canal,  and  on  Salt-works,  1717. 

30.  Containing  a  project  for  an  Observatory  at  Upsal,  1717. 

31.  On  Salt  and  Sak  Sources,  1718. 

32.  On  a  Water  Communication  between  Kattegat  and  Nor- 
kopping,  1718. 

33.  On  the  King's  Campaign  in  Norway,  1718  (4  letters). 

34.  On  Astronomical  Hypotheses,  1719  (2  letters). 

35.  On  the  Decimal  System  of  Money  and  Measures,  1719. 

36.  On  the  Lymphatics,  1 720. 

37.  On  the  establishment  of  a  Lottery,  1720. 

38.  On  his  (Swedenborg's)  Anatomy,  1 720. 

39.  On  his  determination  with  respect  to  Fire  and  Metals  to 
penetrate  "  A  primis  incunabilis  usque  ad  maturitatem,"  1720. 

40.  Containing  Literary  Notices  and  communications,  1722- 
24  (6  letters). 

•'  These  letters,"  says  Dr.  Wilkinson,  ^'  have  been  purchased 
some  time  since  by  the  '  Swedenborg  Association  *  [now  merged 
in  the  '  Swedenborg  Prinling  Society ']  at  considerable  cost. 
They  are  in  Swedish,  but  a  translation  of  most  of  them  has 
been  prepared  by  Mr.  Charles  Edward  Strutt,  and  the  whole 


will  shortly  be  in  English.  There  is,  however,  no  prospect 
that  at  present  the  Association  can  publish  these  highly  interest- 
ing documents,  at  least  unless  its  funds  are  very  differently 
supported  from  what  they  are  at  present." 

This  has  been  written  in  1847,  almost  twenty  years  ago, 
and  these  letters  have  not  yet  made  their  appearance  before 
the  public.  As  they  were  written  between  Swedenborg's  27th 
and  34th  years,  of  which  period  of  his  life  very  little  is  known 
to  us  at  present,  it  seems  very  important  that  they  should  be 
no  longer  withheld  from  us.  We  call  the  earnest  attention 
of  all  the  friends  of  Swedenborg  to  these  letters,  and  hope 
that  the  funds  may  soon  be  forthcoming  to  secure  their  publi- 
cation. 

Second  Period,  from  1720  to  1745. 

14.  Prodromus  Principiorum  Rerum  Naturalium,  sive 
Novorum  Tentaminum,  Chemiam  et  Physicam  Experimentalem 
Geometrice  explicandi.     Amstelodami,  1721. 

Specimens  of  a  Work  on  the  Principles  of  Natural  Philoso- 
phy, comprising  New  Attempts  to  explain  the  Phenomena  of 
Chemistry  and  Physics  by  Geometry. 

This  volume  forms  part  of  a  work  still  existing  in  manu- 
script in  Sweden,  but  which  has  not  yet  been  published.  It 
does  not  appear  to  have  gone  through  a  second  edition,  but 
fresh  title  pages  were  used,  as  some  copies  bear  the  date  of 
1721,  others  of  1727,  whilst  others  are  published  at  Hiiburg- 
hausen,  in  1754. 

The  following  are  the  contents  of  the  volume  : — 

On  the  first  Generation  of  Salts,  &c.,  in  the  Primeval  Ocean, 
with  a  few  Remarks  on  the  Depth  of  that  Ocean. 

Principles  of  Natural  Philosophy. 

Part  VIII.  On  the  different  Positions  of  Round  Particles. 

Part  IX.  The  Theory  of  Water;  briefly  showing  the 
Geometrical  Properties  and  Internal  Mechanism  of  its  Particles. 

Part  XI.  The  Theory  of  Common  Salt,  containing  Geome- 
trical and  Experimental  Demonstrations  of  the  Internal  Me- 
chanism of  its  Particles. 

Part  XII.  The  Theory  of  Acid,  containing  Geometrical  and 


I; 


204 


swedenborg's  scientific 


AND   PHILOSOPHICAL   WORKS. 


205 


ExperimeQtal  Demonstrations  of  the  Particle  of  the  Acid  of 
Salt ;  and  showing  the  Mechanism  of  its  Figure. 

Part  XIII.  The  Theory  of  Nitre  ;  containing  Geometrical 
and  Experimental  Demonstrations  of  its  Particles,  and  show- 
ing the  Mechanism  of  their  Shape  and  Position. 

Part  XIV.  The  Theory  of  Oil  and  of  Volatile  Urinous 
Salt ;  stating  the  Experiments  on  these  Substances,  and  briefly 
explaining  the  Geometry  of  the  Particles. 

Appendix,  containing  some  General  Rules  concerning  Trans- 
parency, and  White,  Red,  and  Yellow  Colors,  taken  from 
Swedenborg's  Theory  of  Light  and  Rays. 

Part  XXV.  The  Theory  of  Lead  :  containing  a  Geometrical 
and  Experimental  Demonstration  of  its  Particles  or  Internal 
Mechanism. 

Experiments  on  Silver,  and  Mercury. 

15.  Nova  Observata  et  Inventa  circa  Ferrum  et  Ignem, 
praecipue  circa  Naturam  Ignis  Elementarem.  Amstelodami, 
1721.  ' 

New  Observations  and  Discoveries  respecting  L-on  and  Fire, 
and  particularly  respecting  the  Elemental  Nature  of  Fire  :  to- 
gether with  a  New  Construction  of  Stoves. 

Mr.  Strutt  remarks  concerning  this  treatise  :  "  It  is  a  short 
disquisition  en  Iron  and  Fire,  with  observations  and  theoreti- 
cal suggestions,  based  on  actual  data  obtained  at  a  large  iron 
foundry.  It  contains  many  curious  remarks,  particularly  on 
the  laws  observed  by  fire  in  penetrating  hard  substances. 

"  The  information  derived  from  the  iron  foundry  as  to  the 
nature  and  properties  of  fire,  is  reduced  to  practice  in  the 
paper  on  the  construction  of  stoves.  In  these  new  stoves,  the 
object  has  been  to  obtain  a  pleasant  and  equable  temperature, 
with  a  constant  supply  of  fresh  warm  air,  at  the  least  possible 
expense  of  fuel." 

This  stove,  invented  by  Swedenborg,  is  generally  known  in 
our  country  under  the  name  of  *'  air-tight  stove."  It  was 
patented  in  Washington,  although  the  principle  of  this  stove 
was  discovered  and  made  known  by  Swedenborg  more  than  a 
hundred  years  ago.  (See  the  "  Intellectual  Repository,"  for 
February,  1842,  where  Swedenborg^s  claim  is  minutely  exam- 
ined, and  a  detailed  description  of  the  stove  is  given.) 


16.  Modus  Construendi  Receptacula  Naval ia ;  Amstelo- 
dami 1721,  or  A  Mode  of  Constructing  Dry  Docks  for  Shipping. 

Nova  Constructio  Aggeris  Aquatici ;  or,  A  New  Mode  of 
Constructing  Dykes  to  exclude  Inundations  of  the  Sea  or  of 

Rivers. 

Modus  Mechanice  Explorandi  Virtutes  Navigiorura  ;  or,  A 
Mode  of  ascertaining,  by  Mechanical  Means,  the  Qualities  of 

Vessels. 

These  three  little  treatises,  together  with  the  Latin  transla- 
tion of  n.  5.  "  Methodus  Nova  Inveniendi  Longitudinem 
Locorum,  Terra  Marique,  Ope  Lunae"  ;  or,  A  New  Method  of 
finding  the  Longitude  of  Places,  on  Land  and  at  Sea,  by  Lunar 
Observations,  were  published  together  in  a  small  pamphlet, 
in  Amsterdam,  at  the  same  time  with  nos.  14  and  15.  These 
three  works,  (our  nos.  14,  15  and  IG,)  have  been  translated  into 
English  by  Mr.  Charles  Edward  Strutt,  and  were  published 
by  the  '  Swedenborg  Association'  in  one  volume  in  1847,  under 
the  title, — Some  Specimens  of  a  Work  on  the  Principles  of 
Chemistry,  with  other  Treatises,     (pp.  241.) 

Concerning  the  work  n.  16,  Mr.  Strutt  says,  in  the  'Intro- 
duction '  to  his  translation  :  "  The  new  method  of  constructing 
docks,  in  seas  where  there  arc  no  tides,  gives  us  an  interesting 
account  of  a  difficult  undertaking,  and  is  a  good  specimen  of 
Swedenborg's  abilities  as  an  engineer.  Unfortunately,  the 
plates  which  illustrated  the  description  do  not  exist  in  any  of 
the  copies  of  the  work  which  the  translator  has  been  able  to 
procure  ;  but  the  whole  process  is  so  clearly  set  forth,  that  the 
reader  will  have  no  difficulty  in  understanding  it,  notwithstand- 
ing the  absence  of  the  illustrations.  The  plates  belonging  to 
the  plan  for  making  dams  are  also  lost ;  but  it  is  hoped  that  a 
copy  containing  them  may  yet  be  met  with.  The  volume  con- 
cludes with  a  few  suggestions  for  ascertaining  the  sailing  and 
other  qualities  of  vessels,  by  experiments  on  a  small  scale, 
with  a  vievv  to  their  application  to  ship-building." 

17.  Miscellanea  Observata  circa  Res  Naturales;  praesertim 

Mineralia,  Ignem  et  Montium  Strata. 

Miscellaneous  Observations  on  Natural  Things,  particularly 
on  Minerals,  Fire,  and  the  Strata  of  Mountains. 

This  work  was  published  at  Leipsic  in  1722,  in  three  parts, 

18 


206 


swedenborg's  scientific 


to  which  a  Fourth  Part,  published  in  the  same  year  at  Schlff- 
beck,  uear  Hamburg,  was  subsequently  added.  An  English 
translation  of  this  work,  by  Mr.  Ch.  E.  Strutt,  was  published  by 
the  '  Swcdenhorg  Association'  in  London,  in  1847,  under  the 
title, — "  Miscellaneous  Observations  connected  with  the  Physical 
Sciences."  (pp.  149.)  In  the  same  volume  they  likewise  pub- 
lished a  translation  of  the  papers  in  n.  18. 

Contents  of  Part  I, 

On  the  different  kinds  of  Mountains  in  Sweden,  with  a  dis- 
quisition on  their  origin. 

On  the  Petrified  Plants  found  at  Liege. 

On  the  Strata  of  Shells  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

On  the  harder  Strata,  consisting  of  the  common  Granite, 
and  their  oriijin. 

On  inclined  Strata,  and  the  causes  of  their  inclination. 

On  the  causes  of  the  varieties  in  Strata. 

Observations,  and  points  to  be  observed,  concerning  Strata, 
their  separation,  arrangement,  and  differences. 

On  Stony  Marl,  or  Margenstein. 

On  the  Circular  Crusts  found  in  certain  stones,  and  on 
Mountain  Nuclei. 

On  the  Primeval  Matter  of  Earth,  with  reasons  for  conjec- 
turing that  it  was  Water. 

On  the  Subsidence  of  the  Seas  towards  the  North. 

Observations  and  Experiments  on  the  origin,  temperature, 
and  saline  components  of  Hot  Springs. 

PaH  IL 

On  Vitrification,  and  the  change  of  Particles  into  Glass. 

On  the  softening  of  hard  Bodies,  and  on  the  origin  of 
Aetites,  Belemnites,  &c. 

On  the  entrance  of  Liquids,  as,  for  example.  Water  and 
Fire,  into  hard  Bodies. 

Observations  on  Cooling,  as  on  the  escape  of  Fire  from 
Bodies. 

On  the  improvement  of  Stoves  in  Sweden, 
A  new  construction  of  Fireplace. 
On  Wind  or  Draught  Furnaces. 


AND   PHILOSOPHICAL  WORKS. 


207 


The  Causes  of  Smoke  in  Rooms. 

A  New  Construction  of  Air-pump,  worked  by  Mercury. 

On  the  Salt  Works  on  Parts  of  the  Swedish  Coast. 

A  Method  of  ascertaining,  by  moans  of  a  Triangle,  the  Indi- 
vidual Weights  of  mixed  Metals,  from  the  Weight  of  the  Mass 
previously  ascertained  in  Water  and  in  Air. 

The  Glass  of  Archimedes ;  an  Instrument  for  ascertaining 
the  Proportions  of  mixed  Metals  mechanically,  without  any 
Calculations. 

Reasons  showing  the  Impossibility  of  transmuting  Metals, 

especially  into  Gold. 

The  Blood  circulates  through  the  Capillaries  more  easily 
than  through  the  Trunks  of  the  Arteries. 

Part  IIL 

On  aNew  Germination  of  pure  Water  when  converted  into  Ice. 

A  Hypothesis  of  the  Figure  and  Difi*erent  Magnitude  of 
Elementary  Particles. 

On  the  Great  Power  and  Intense  Motion  of  the  Smaller 
BuUular  Particles  especially. 

Hypothesis  of  the  Undulation  and  Vibration  of  BuUular 

Particles. 

Hypothesis  of  the  Figure  of  the  Particles  of  Fire  and  Air. 
On  the  Interfluent  Subtle  Matter  between  the  Particles  of 

Water. 

The  Mechanism  of  BuUular  Particles. 

On  the  Centripeteucy  of  heavy  Bodies  in  Elements  consists 
inf;:  of  BuUular  Particles. 

The  Notion  of  a  Central  Fire. 

The  Phenomena  of  Phosphorescence  of  the  Ignis  Fatuus, 
explained  according  to  the  BuUular  Hypothesis. 

On  the  Increments  and  degrees  of  Heat  in  Bodies,  accord- 
ing to  the  BuUular  Hypothesis. 

Part  IV. 

On  a  new  Sexagenary  Calculus,  invented  by  Charles  XII., 
of  glorious  memory,  late  King  of  Sweden. 

Reasons  to  show  that  Mineral  Effluvia,  or  Particles,  pene- 
trate into  their  Matrices,  and  impregnate  them  with  Metal,  by 
means  of  Water  as  a  Vehicle. 


208 


swedenborg's  scientific 


AND   PHILOSOPHICAL   WORKS. 


209 


On  Stalactites,  and  Crystallizations  of  Stone ;  with  remarks 
upon  the  resemblance  of  these  formations  to  Couo-ealed 
Water.  ° 

On  the  Petrifying  Fluid  or  Juice  ;  with  remarks  to  prove 
that  it  is  not  indeutical  with  the  water  that  produces  the  Sta- 
lactite. 

On  the  formation  of  Quartz  and  Spar,  with  reasons  show- 
ing the  probability  of  their  past  diluvian  origin. 

General  observations  on  Furnaces  for  smelting  Iron,  with 
suggestions  for  improving  them. 

"  In  all  these  papers,"  says  Mr.  Strutt,  "  the  acute  observa- 
tion and  practical  sagacity  of  the  author  are  conspicuous  ;  and 
if  a  few  of  his  deductions  may  be  considered  as  somewhat 
questionable,  others  have  since  been  corroborated  by  modern 
researches.     .     .     The  papers  on   the  Elementary  and  Bul- 
lular  Hypothesis  are  evidently  the  first  ideas  of  the  theories 
afterwards  so  ably  developed  in  the  '  Principia:     The  '  Priw 
ciplesof  Chemistry'  likewise  throw  considerable  light  on  sev- 
eral of  the   subjects  treated   of  in  these  pages  ;  and  in  their 
turn,  they  also  derive  support  from  the  theories  and  experi- 
ments in  these  Miscellaneous  Observations,     So  true  it  is,  that 
the  same  idea  of  thought  runs  through  the  whole  of  the  author's 
philosopliical  writings,  susceptible  of  amplification  and  expan- 
sion ;  so  that  as  our  facts  increase,  they  may  each  be  arran^^ed 
in  their  proper  place   and  order ;  of  which,  indeed,  seveml 
recent  discoveries  in  the  higher  departments  of  science  are 
remarkable  illustrations." 

18.    Papers   by   Swedenborg,    from   the    "  Acta   Litcraria 
Suecice" 

1.  Letter  to  Jacob  a  Melle,  on  the  Primeval  Ocean,  ex- 
tracted from  the  ''Acta,  etc.,"  vol.  i.,  1721,  pp.  192-196. 

2.  New  Rules  for  maintaining  Heat  in  Rooms.— ^'  Acta 
etc.,"  vol.  i.,  1721,  pp.  282-285.  ' 

3.  An  Elucidation  of  a  Law  of  Hydrostatics,  dcmonstratin"- 
the  Power  of  the  deepest  Waters  of  the  Deluire,  and  their 
Action  on  the  Rocks  and  other  Substances  at  tlie  bottom  of 
t!:eir  bed.— "Acta,  etc.,"  vol.  i.,  1721,  pp.  353— 3oG. 

Two  of  these  papers  (Xos.  1,  and  2,)  were  translated  into 


English  in  the  Acta  Germanica^  vol.  i.  ;  London,  1742.  All 
three  papers  are  added  as  an  Appendix  to  Mr.  Strutt's  trans- 
lation of  the  "  Miscellaneous  Ohservata'' 

19.  Opera  Philosophica  et  Mineralia.  TresTomi.  Dresdae 
et  Lipsiic,   1734,  folio   (vol.  i.,  pp.  425,  vol.   ii.,  pp.  385, 

vol.  iii.,  pp.  534). 

Philosophical  and  Mineral  Works. 

Vol.  I.  Principia  Rerum  Naturalium,  sive,  Novorum  Ten- 
taminum,  Phienomena  Mundi  Elementaris  Philosophice  Expli- 
candi ;  or.  The  Principia  ;  or,  the  First  Principles  of  Natural 
Things,  being  New  Attempts  toward  a  Philosophical  Explana- 
tion of  the  Elementary  World. 

This  volume  has  been  translated  into  English  by  the  Rev. 
Augustus  Clissold,  M.  A.,  and  was  published  by  the  "  Swe- 
denborg Association"  in  London,  in  two  volumes,  (1845  and 
1846,)  vol.  i.,  pp.  380,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  383. 

Vol.  II.  Regnum  Subterraneum  sive  Minerale,  de  Ferro ; 
or,  the  Subterranean  or  Mineral  Kingdom,  consisting  of  a 
Treatise  on  Iron. 

This  work  was  translated  into  French  by  Bouchu,  and  pub- 
lished at  Paris,  in  1762,  in  the  magnificent  Description  des 
Arts  et  Metiers^  issued  by  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences ; 
"  because,"  as  they  said,  "  this  work  was  found  to  be  the  best 
on  this  subject."  The  chapter  on  the  conversion  of  iron  into 
steel  had  been  previously  translated  into  French,  and  pub- 
lished in  Strasburg  (1734). 

Vol.  III.  Regnum  Subterraneum  sive  Minerale,  de  Cupro 
et  Orichalco  ;  or.  The  Subterranean,  or  Mineral  Kingdom,  on 
Copper  and  Brass. 

20.  Prodromus  Philosophiae  Ratiocinantis  de  Infinito,  et 
Causa  Finali  Creationis :  deque  Mechanismo  Operationis 
Animae  et  Corporis.     Dresdae  et  Lipsiae,  173t. 

Outlines  of  a  Philosophical  Argument  on  the  Infinite,  and 
the  final  Cause  of  Creation  ;  and  on  the  Intercourse  between 
the  Soul  and  the  Body,  pp.  149. 

This  work  had  been  trailslated  into  English  as  early  as 
1795,  when  it  was  published  at  Manchester.     "  This  transla- 

18* 


M 


210 


SWEDENBORG  S  SCIENTIFIC 


tion,"  says  Dr.  Wilkinson,  "  was  by  no  means  a  successful 
rendering  of  this  difficult  work."  The  Doctor's  own  transla- 
tion was  published  by  the  Swedenborg  Association,  in  1847 
(pp.  149)  ;  a  reprint  of  this  translation  has  also  been  pub- 
lished in  Boston. 


21.  Dissertationes  duae  de  Fibra  et  Succo  Nervoso,  8vo. 
Romae,  1740. 

Two  Dissertations  on  the  Nervous  Fibre  and  the  Nervous 
Fluid,  Rome,  in  1740. 

Dr.  Wilkinson  says,  respecting  this  work  :  "  It  is  recorded 
in  one  list  of  his  works,  and  we  have  obtained  collateral 
evidence  of  the  fact,  that  he  published  this  work  at  Rome  in 
1740  ;  yet  it  is  hardly  probable  that  he  returned  to  Rome  in 
that  year,  and  accordingly  his  authorship  of  such  a  publication 
is  doubtful.  Nevertheless  it  is  easiest  to  account  for  the  asser- 
tion by  supposing  its  truth  ;  and  certainly  the  title  of  the  work 
bears  a  Swedenborgian  aspect."  Swedenhorg,  a  Biography, 
American  edition,  p.  39. 

In  a  foot-note  to  this,  Doctor  Wilkinson  adds  the  following: 
"  Sprengel,  in  his  Hidory  of  Medicine^  (the  French  translation 
by  Jourdan,  vol.  iv.,  p.  326,)  mentions  a  work  which  he  supposes 
to  be  Swedenborg*s,  viz. :  Dilucidationes  de  Origine  Animce 
et  Malo  Hereditario,  8vo.  Stockholm,  1740.  As  we  have 
not  been  able  to  meet  with  these  Thoughts  on  the  Origin  of 
the  Soul  and  Hereditary  Evil^  we  cannot  say  what  intrinsic 
evidence  they  may  present  of  his  authorship.  It  is  likely  that 
he  returned  to  Stockholm  this  year." 

22.  CEconomia  Regni  Animalis  in  Transactiones  Divisa: 
Anatomice,  Physice  et  Philosophice,  perlustrata.  (Trans. 
I.  II.)  4to.     Londini  et  Amstelodami,  1740,  1741. 

The  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,  considered  Anato- 
mically, Physically,  and  Philosophically, 


Fart  I. 
Introduction. 

Chap.  I.  The  Composition  and  Genuine  Essence  of  the 
Blood. 


AND  PHILOSOPHICAL  WORKS. 


211 


Chap.  II.  The  Arteries  and  Veins,  their  Tunics,  and  the 
Circulation  of  the  Bbod. 

Chap.  III.  On  the  Formation  of  the  Chick  in  the  Egg,  and 
on  the  Arteries,  Veins,  and  Rudiments  of  the  Heart. 

Chap.  IV.  On  the  Circulation  of  the  Blood  in  the  Foetus  ; 
and  on  the  Foramen  Ovale  and  Ductus  Arteriosus  belonging 
to  the  Heart  in  Embryos  and  Infants. 

Chap.  V.   The  Heart  of  the  Turtle. 

Chap.  VI.  The  peculiar  Arteries  and  Veins  of  the  Heart, 
and  the  Coronary  Vessels. 

Chap.  VII.   The  Motion  of  the  Adult  Heart. 

Chap.  VIII.   Introduction  to  Rational  Psychology. 


PaH  11. 

Chap.  I.  On  the  Motion  of  the  Brain ;  showing  that  its 
Animation  is  coincident  with  the  Respiration  of  the  Lungs. 

Chap.  II.   The  Cortical  Substance  of  the  Brain  specifically. 

Chap.  III.   The  Human  Soul. 

This  work  has  been  translated  into  English  by  the  Rev. 
Augustus  Clissold,  M.  A.,  and  was  published  by  the  "  Swe- 
denborg Association,"  in  1845  and  *46,  in  two  volumes.  Vol. 
i.,  pp.  574 ;  vol.  ii.,  pp.  357. 

23.  Regnum  Animale  Anatomice,  Physice  et  Philosophice 
perlustratum  (Parts  i.  ii.  iii.).  4to.  Hagae  Comitum  et  Lon- 
dini, 1744,  1745. 

The  Animal  Kingdom,  considered  Anatomically,  Physically, 

and  Philosophically. 

Part  I.   The  Viscera  of  the  Abdomen,  or  the  Organs  of  the 

Inferior  Region. 

Part  II.   The  Viscera  of  the  Thorax,  or  the  Organs  of  the 

Superior  Region. 
Part  III.   The  Skin,  the  Senses  of  Touch  and  Taste,  and 

Organic  Forms  generally. 

This  work  has  been  translated  into  English  by  Dr.  Wilkin- 
son, and  was  published  in  London  in  1843  and  *44,  in  two 
volumes.    Vol.  i.,  pp.  526  ;  vol.  ii.,  pp.  593. 


Ii' 


212 


SWEDENBORGS   SCIENTIFIC 


AND   PHILOSOPHICAL  WORKS. 


213 


24.  De  Cultu  et  Araore  Dei,  Londini,  1745. 
On  the  Worship  and  Love  of  God. 

Part.  I.  On  the  Origin  of  the  Earth,  on  the  State  of  Para- 
dise in  the  Vegetable  and  Animal  Kingdoms,  and  on  the  Birth, 
Infancy,  and  Love  of  Adam,  or  the  First-born  Man. 

Part  II.  On  the  Marriage  of  the  First-born,  and  on  the 
Soul,  the  Intellectual  Mind,  the  state  of  Integrity,  and  the 
Image  of  God. 

The  first  edition  of  the  English  translation,  made  by  Mr. 
Clowes,  was  printed  at  Manchester,  in  1816;  the  second  at 
London,  in  1828.  An  American  edition  has  lately  been  pub- 
lished in  Boston,  (1864,)  pp.  240. 

This  is  the  last  of  Swedenborg*s  Scientific  and  Philosophical 
Works,  which  he  published  himself;  the  following  works  he 
left  in  manuscript,  and  they  have  been  published  since  his 
death. 

25.  Opuscula  quaidam  Argumenti  Philosophic!,  Ex  auto- 
graph© in  Bibliotheca  Regia?  Academias  Holmiensis  asservato, 
nunc  primum  cdidit  Jac.  Jo.  Garth  Wilkinson,  Reg.  Coll. 
Chirurg.  Lond.  Mcmb.     One  vol.  8vo. 

The  same  was  translated  into  English,  with  the  following 
title  :— 

Posthumous  Tracts.  Translated  from  the  Latin,  by  James 
John  Garth  Wilkinson,  one  vol.,  pp.  149.     London,  1847. 

Contents  of  the   Volume. 

The  Way  to  a  Knowledge  of  the  Soul. 

Faith  and  Good  Works. 

The  Red  Blood. 

The  Animal  Spirit. 

Sensation,  or  the  Passion  of  the  Body. 

The  Origin  and  Propagation  of  the  Soul. 

Action. 

Fragment  on  the  Soul. 

26.  Clavis  Hieroglyphica  Arcanorum  Naturalium  et  Spirit- 
ualium,  per  viam  Repraesentationum  et  Correspondentiarum. 
Opus  posthumum  Eman.  Swedeuborgii,  4to. 


A  translation  of  this  work  appeared  under  the  following 

title  :— 

A  Hieroglyphic  Key  to  Natural  and  Spiritual  Mysteries  by 
way  of  Representations  and  Correspondences.  Translated 
from  the  Latin,  by  J.  J.  Garth  Wilkinson.     London,  1847. 

27.  CEconomia  Regni  Animalis  in  Transactiones  Divisa, 
Quarum  hsec  Tertia  de  Fibra,  de  Tunica  Arachnoidea,  et  de 
Morbis  Fibrarum  agit :  anatomice,  physice,  et  philosophice 
perlustrata.  Ex  chirographo  in  Bibliotheca  Regias  Academiae 
Holmiensi  asservato,  nunc  primum  edidit  J.  J.  Garth  Wilkin- 
son.    Londini,  18  4-. 

A  translation  of  this  work  had  been  announced  by  the 
Swedenborg  Association,  under  the  following  title  : — 

The  Brain  and  the  Fibres,  considered  Anatomically,  Physi- 
cally, and  Philosophically ;  including  a  Treatise  on  the  Diseases 
of  the  Nervous  System.  Being  Part  III.  of  the  Economy  of 
the  Animal  Kingdom. 

This  translation  has  never  been  published. 

28.  Regnum  Animale  Anatomice,  Physice,  et  Philosophice 
perlustratum  cujus  Pars  Quarta  de  Carotidibus,  De  Sensu 
Olfactus,  Auditus  et  Visus,  de  Sensatione  et  Affectione  in 
genere,  ac  de  Intellectu  et  ejus  Operatione  agit.  Ex  chiro- 
grapho in  Bibliotheca  Regiie  Academise  Holmiensis  asservato, 
nunc  primum  edidit  Dr.  J.  F.  E.  Tafel,  Philosophiae  Professor 
et  Regise   Bibliothecae   Universitatis   Tubingensis   prasfectus. 

Tubingse,  1848. 

This  work  has  not  yet  been  translated  into  English.  It  is 
called  by  Dr.  Tafel  Part  IV.  of  the  "  Animal  Kingdom,"  and 
treats  of  the  following  subjects  : — 

1.  The  Carotids,  or  the  Arteries  carrying  the  Blood  to  the 

Head. 

2.  The  Senses  of  Smelling,  Hearing  and  Sight. 

3.  Concerning  Sensation  and  Affection  in  general. 

4.  The  Intellect  and  its  Operation. 

29.  Regnum  Animale  Anatomice,  Physice  et  Philosophice 
perlustratum  cujus   supplementum   sive   Partis   Sextae  sectio 


214 


swedenborg's  scientifio 


prima  de  Periosteo  et  de  Mammis,  et  sectio  secunda  de  Gene- 
ratione,  de  partibus  Genitalibus  utriusque  Sexus,  et  de  For- 
matione  Foetus  in  Utero  agit.  E  Chirographo  in  Bibliotheca 
Regiae  Academiae  Holmiensis  asservato,  nunc  primum  edidit 
Dr.  J.  F.  E.  Tafel,  &c.     Tubingae,  1849. 

The  first  section  of  this  part  (the  sixth)  of  the  Animal 
Kingdom  treats  of  the  Periosteum  and  the  Breasts  ;  the  second 
section  of  Generation,  the  Genital  Organs  of  both  Sexes,  and 
the  Formation  of  the  Foetus  in  the  Womb.  This  work  has 
been  translated  into  English,  and  published  under  the  follow- 
ing title :  The  Generative  Organs,  considered  anatomically, 
physically,  and  philosophically.  A  Posthumous  Work  of 
Emanuel  Swedeuborg,  translated  from  the  Latin,  by  J.  J. 
Garth  Wilkinson.     London,  1852. 

30.  Regnum  Animale  Anatomice,  Physice,  et  Philosophice 
perlustratum,  cujus  Pars  Septima  de  Anima  agit.  E  Chiro- 
grapho nunc  primum  edidit  Dr.  J.  F.  E.  Tafel.  Tubingae, 
1849. 

This  Seventh  Part  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,  which  treats 
of  the  Soul,  is  a  great  summing  up  of  the  whole  work,  and  is 
its  worthy  conclusion.  It  has  never  been  translated  into 
English. 

31.  Itinerarium  ex  operibus  Eman.  Swedenborgii  pos- 
thumis.  Partes  i.,  ii.  Nunc  primum  edidit  Dr.  J.  F.  E. 
Tafel. 

This  work  contains  Swedenborg's  Journal,  written  during 
some  of  his  travels.  Part  I.  describes  those  undertaken  in 
1733  ;  Part  IL  those  in  1736  and  1738.  Part  I.  was  ori^ri- 
nally  written  in  Latin,  Part  II.  in  Swedish  ;  it  was  translated 
into  Latin  by  Dr.  A.  Kahl,  of  the  University  of  Lund,  in 
Sweden.  Neither  of  these  parts  have  yet  been  translated 
into  English. 


The  following  important  scientific  works  of  Swedenborg  are 
still  preserved  in  manuscript  in  the  Library  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Sciences  in  Stockholm.  It  is  hoped  that  the 
publication  of  our  present  volume,  which  proclaims  by  a 


AND  PHILOSOPHICAL  WORKS. 


215 


hundred  voices  the  importance  of  the  scientific  works  of  Swe- 
denborg, may  induce  some  of  his  admirers  to   defray  the 
expenses  of  their  publication.     To  think  that  we  allow  these 
works  to  lie  idly  in  manuscript,  in  an  out-of-the-way  library, 
where   scarcely  a  person  ever  goes  to  consult   them— these 
works,  for  which  the  Science  of  the  Future  will  be  willing  to 
give  everything  that  has  been  done  for  it  since  Swedenborg's 
time— instead  of  sending  them  out  on  their  noble  mission  of 
revolutionizing  science,  and  enabling  it  to  rise  out  of  its  low 
sensual  state  into  rational  light !     Surely  we  are  derelict  in 
our  administration  of  a  most  sacred  trust,  if  we  allow  these 
works  any  longer  to  remain  mouldering  in  the  dust. 

32.  The  Principles  of  Natural  Philosophy,  4to.,  pp.  569. 
This  is  the  treatise   of  which  the  Author  published  some 

Specimens.     (See  our  No.  14.)     It  is  indispensable  to  com- 
plete his  mechanical  Theory  of  Chemistry  and  Physics. 

33.  A  Treatise  on  Common  Salt,  4to.,  pp.  343. 

This  is  an  important  Treatise,  particularly  considering  the 
remarkable  position  that  the  Theory  of  Salt  occupies  in  the 
Author*s  views  of  nature. 

34.  A  Treatise  on  the  Brain. 

This  is  an  unpublished  part  of  the  "  Animal   Kingdom," 
and  in  fact  its  most  important  part,  on  the  same  grounds  that 
the  brain  is  the  most  important  organ  in  the  human  body. 
Its  very  size  bespeaks  its  importance ;  for  Dr.  Swedbom,  the 
Librarian  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  in  Stockholm, 
writes  that  it  fills  1482  pages  in  4to.,  "  carefully  written  out, 
and  not  difficult  to  read."     ''  Pages  1  to  73,"  he  writes,  "  are 
wanting ; "  but  Dr.  Wilkinson  suggests  the  probability  that 
they  have  been  already  printed  in  the  ^'Economy  of  the  Ani- 
mal Kingdom,"  where  there  is  a  chapter  "  On  the  Cortical 
Substance  of  the  Brain." 

This  treatise  is  a  real  desideratum  by  modern  physiology, 
which  affords  but  little  aid  to  an  understanding  of  the  theory 
of  the  brain,  and  especially  of  the  cerebellum. 


216 


swedenborg's  scientific 


35.  A  treatise  on  the  Ear  and  Hearing  (containinfy  29 
pages),  and  one  on  the  Eye  and  the  Sense  of  Sight,  (pp.  40.) 

These  two  treatises  are  contained  in  the  same  manuscript 
vohime,  from  which  No.  28  had  been  published  ;  but  by  an 
order  of  the  Swedenborg  Association,  Dr.  Tafel  did  not 
print  these  two  volumes.  (See  his  preface  to  said  volume, 
p.  vii.) 

36.  Ontology. 

Dr.  Swedbom  says  concerning  this  work :  "  From  the 
commencement  of  this  Dissertation,  certain  subjects  are  con- 
sidered in  general,  and  are  afterwards  treated  severally  under 
various  heads.  These  heads  are  as  follows  :  I.  Form,  Formal 
Cause ;  II.  Figure  ;  III.  Organ,  Structure  ;  IV.  State,  Changes 
of  State ;  V.  Substance ;  VI.  Matter,  Materiality  ;  VII.  Ex- 
tense,  Extension,  Continuum,  Continuity ;  VIII.  Body,  Corpo- 
reals  (the  other  heads  are  not  numbered)  ; — Essence,  Essentials ; 
— Attribute  ;  Predicate  ; — Subject ; — Affection ;  Contingencies; 
— Modes  ; — Modification.  As  for  the  manner  of  treatment, 
the  opinions  of  Wolff,  Baron,  and  others,  are  for  the  most  part 
stated  first,  and  the  author's  own  opinion  then  given,  or  at 
least  intimated." 

This  work  is  the  only  one  in  which  Swedenborg  discusses 
abstractions  like  the  rest  of  the  philosophers.  It  would  be 
very  interesting  to  know  how  his  eminently  real  mind  treats 
these  questions.  This  treatise.  Dr.  Tafel  was  likewise  in- 
structed by  the  Swedenborg  Association  to  omit,  in  his 
publication  of  the  rest  of  the  volume  (our  n.  29)  :  see  his 
preface,  p.  vi. 

37.  Excerpta  ex  Platone,  Aristotele,  Augustino,  Grotio, 
Leibnitio,  Wolfio,  Malebranche,  Cartesio,  Spinoza,  Scriptura 
Sacra,  and  others ;  with  an  Index  on  the  matters. 

This  volume  would  be  mostly  interesting  on  account  of  the 
light  which  it  throws  on  Swedenborg's  philosophical  studies. 

Third  Period,  from  1745  to  1772. 
The  works  belonging  to  this  period  are  all  theological  in 
their  nature,  and  their  discussion  does  not  properly  belong  iu 


Ain>   PHILOSOPHICAL   WORKS. 


217 


the  present  volume.  For  the  information  of  our  readers,  we 
would,  however,  state  that  Swedenborg  himself  published  four- 
teen different  theological  works,  which  in  the  English  transla- 
tion,  as  published  in  London,  fill  twenty-two  volumes.  Since 
his  death,  twelve  posthumous  works  have  been  published  iu 
thirty-two  volumes  ;  to  which  three  or  four  additional  works 
will  accede  that  have  not  yet  been  published.  So  that  it 
appears  that  Swedenborg  wrote  quite  as  many  theological  as 
scientific  works,  and  is  thus  the  most  voluminous  of  writers.* 


*  Those  of  our  readers  who  wish  to  make  themselves  acquainted 
with  Swedenborg's  Theological  System,  we  refer  to  the  List  of  Books 
appended  to  the  present  volume. 


PAET  n. 


EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG    AS    A    MAN    OF 

SCIENCE. 


INTRODUCTION. 


We  wish  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  by  our  readers,  that 
we  do  not  regard  the  "confirmations"  contained  in  the  fol- 
lowing pages  as,  by  any  means,  an  exhaustive  treatise  on 
Swedenborg's    scientific    theories,   in    the   light  of   Modern 
Science.      We   have   simply   collected   and   digested   into   a 
whole  the  materials  we  have  found  scattered  in  the  various 
publications,  composing  the  "  Swedenborg  Literature  "  of  the 
last  eighty  years.     To  these  we  have  added  a  confirmation 
of  Swrdenborg's  «  Theory  of  Leasts,"  (Chap.  I.,  n.  2,)  and 
also  of  his  theory  of  the  "  Influence  of  Thought  upon  Respi- 
ration."   (Chap.  IL,  n.  6.)     It  will  be  observed  that  fully 
two-thirds  of  the  following  pages  consist  of  articles  written  by 
Samuel  Beswick,  Esq.     He  is,  in  fact,  the  only  scholar  who 
has  ever  systematically  analyzed  any  of  Swedenborg's  scientific 
works,  and  compared  its  resuUs  with  those  of  Modern  Science. 
In  his  articles  on  the  "  Principia,"  he  has  done  justice  to 
Swedenborg,  and  credit  to  himself;  and  we  sincerely  trust 
that  their  republication  in  this  form,  may  lead  to  the  prepara- 
tion of  more  of  the  same  sort,  in  accordance  with  liis  promise 
made  in  the  "  Intellectual  Repository"  for  1850,  p.  462,  and 
in  the  "  New  Church  Repository"  for  1856,  p.  239.     At  tlie 
same  time,  we  may  be  allowed  to  express  the  hope,  that  their 
author  will  pardon  the  liberty  we  have  taken  in  re-arranging 
and  condensing  some  of  these  articles,  under  the  conviction 
that  their  usefulness  would  thereby  be  enhanced,  and  that  the 
attention  of  the  learned  would  be  more  readily  drawn  to  them, 
in  recognition  of  their  real  merit. 
19*  (221) 


222 


IKTRODTJCTION. 


May  the  following  collection  be  regarded  as  a  first  tribute 
of  Modern  Science  to  the  genius  of  Swedenborg:  and  may 
the  work  here  begun  not  be  suffered  to  rest  where  we  leave 
it,  but  be  taken  up  and  carried  forward  by  unprejudiced  and 
ardent  scholars,  who,  not  wedded  past  redemption  to  present 
systems  and  methods  of  science,  shall  not  fail  to  reap  great 
and  abundant  harvests  of  knowledge,  in  the  field  where  so 
much  light  has  already  been  sown.  To  such  we  would 
especially  recommend,  as  most  grateful  subjects  of  study  and 
investigation,  Swedenborg's  Theory  of  Optics  and  Colors, 
and  his  Mechanical  Theory  of  Chemistry. 


I. 

SWEDENBORG'S    THEORIES    OF    FORM. 
1.  The  Doctkike  of  the  Spiral  Form 
(&.)-Froma  Letter  of  Dr.  Wilkinson,  January,  1843. 

"Before  I  leave  altogether  the  subject  of  Swedenborg's 
scientL  works,  I  will  mention  his  striking  foresight  of  one 
Iw  of  nature  ;hich  is  now  only  beginning  to  be  d.scen>ed  m 
itrimportance  by  the  scientific  world.     I  allude  to  hu  doctr^m 
Tf  7!  spiral  foln,  and  of  its  universality  in  the  orgamc  and 
Imental  kingdoms.     This  doctrine  is  1-f  7  t-ted  of  m 
the  'Re<.num  Animate;'  in  the  chapter  of  wh.ch,  On  the 
Stomacir  he  says,  '  A  similar  form  occurs  in  the  mtestmes  or 
'  nitimats  o/tL  body ;  in  the  brains,  or  the  begmmngs  ^f 
the  body ;  and  throughout  in  the  intermediates.     This  form 
mLtt 'called  the  perpetual-circulator  P-P- J;  ^^^P^ 
form  •  it  is  the  essential  form  of  motion,  or  of  the  fluxion  ot 
Z^     substances  in  the  animal  world.'     Here  then  the  doc- 
"fne  is  enunciated  as  a  law.     Nov,  what  says  our  age  of^fects 
in  confirmation  or  disapproval  ?     Let  us  hear  Mr  Gk— , 
the  professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology  at  St.  Thomas  s 
HosdS  •    and  one  of   the  most    distinguished  teachers   m 
;S  mtopolis.     In  a  late  lecture  '  On  Microscopic  Researches 

the  botanist  is  enabled,  with  the  assistance  of  the  microscope 
to  demonstrate  that  tendency  to  the  spral  f  P°-''°;  ;  J  J 
component  parts,  which  so  strongly  P^'^f  «^^.  J«  ^^^^^^^ 
kingdom,  if,  for  example,  we  examine  the  d"  fP^"^ 
of  conferva,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  organic  cofP«««l««j:« 
deposited  in  spirals.    The  membranous  tube  which  precedes 

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224 


swedenborg's  theories  of  form. 


s^vedenborg's  theories  of  form. 


225 


the  vascular  tissue  of  the  higher  plants,  becomes  charged  with 
innumerable  granules,  which,  after  a  short  time,  begin  to 
adhere  to  the  inner  surface  of  the  tube,  assuming  a  spiral 
direction  or  form,  and  thus  lay  the  foundation  for  the  vascular 
tissue.  In  the  circulation  of  the  chara,  something  of  the  same 
kind  is  noticeable ;  the  little  globules  which  indicate  the  cur- 
rents going  on  in  each  cell  of  this  plant,  follow  in  the  larger 
cells,  a  definite  spiral  direction,  so  that  the  globules  describe 
curved  currents.  In  these  instances  we  have  an  opportunity 
of  perceiving,  in  its  simplest  but  most  evident  manifestation, 
that  spiral  form  which  is  so  eminently  displayed  in  the  whole 
vegetable  kingdom.'     Now  for  the  animal  kingdom. 

"  '  The  allusion  to  the  spiral  arrangement  in  the  vegetable 
kingdom  will  tend  to  show  the  great  importance  of  that  dis- 
position in  one  of  the  grand  divisions  of  the  Organic  Creation. 
There  are  many  facts  familiar  to  botanists  which  will  throw 
light  on  some  views  presently  to  be  noticed,  respecting  the 
presumed  existence  in  the  animal  kingdom  of  a  similar  prin- 
ciple of  arrangement.  It  is  known,  for  example,  that  by 
carefully  tracing  the  spiral  tissue  of  the  plant  through  the 
several  stages  of  its  first  development,  and  of  its  subsequent 
transformations,  it  can  be  demonstrated  that  various  and  some- 
times even  apparently  most  anomalous  forms,  such  as  annular 
vessels,  dotted  ducts,  and  reticulated  cells,  are  produced  sim- 
ply by  modifications  of  the  fundamental  or  typical  spiral 
fibre. 

" '  Now  the  animal  kingdom  presents,  as  it  w^ould  seem,  an 
exactly  parallel  transformation,  in  the  structure  of  the  breath- 
ing tubes  or  tracheas.  In  the  class  iusecta,  it  is  familiarly 
known  that  the  tracheaB,  instead  of  being  composed  as  in  man 
and  the  other  vertebrate  animals,  of  interrupted  and  imper- 
fectly closed  rings,  consist  of  a  continued  spiral  and  round 
filament.  It  has,  however,  been  noticed  by  Burmeister,  that 
in  such  larger  tubes  the  spiral  becomes  interrupted,  and  forms, 
as  in  the  apparently  similar  case  of  the  annular  ducts  of 
plants,  perfectly  closed  rings.  But  the  exquisitely  beautiful 
structure  seen  in  the  bilobed  tongues  of  the  musca  vomitoria, 
or  common  horse-fly,  affords  a  more  palpable  demonstration 
of  this  transformatiou  of  a  continual  spii-al :  for  you  will  dis- 


tinctly perceive  that  whilst  the  larger  tubes  of  this  remarkable 
or"-an  are  formed  like  the  ordinary  tracheae  of  insects,  that  is  . 
to°ay,  of  a  continuous  filament,  the  smaller  tubes  proceeding 
from  it  are  composed  of  imperfect  rings,  of  a  horse-shoe  form, 
and  presenting  in  their  divaricated  extremities  a  peculiar  por- 
catc  appearance.     When  to  these  facts  we  add,  that  in  one  of 
the  herbivorous  cetacea,  namely,  the  dugmy  or  fabled  mermaid, 
the  trachea  is  composed,  as  in  insects,  of  the  coils  of  a  con- 
tinuous cartilage,  there  can  remain  little  doubt  that  the  inter- 
rupted and  imperfect  rings  of  the  windpipe  of  the  vertebrata 
generally,  are  in  reality  developed  on  the  principle  of  a  spiral. 
»' '  A  celebrated  microscopical  observer,  M.  Mandl,  contends 
that  a  spiral  arrangement  is  also  observed  in  the  cutaneous 
appendages  of  animals,  as  in  the   barbes  and  barbules  of 
featliers,°in  the  scales  of  fishes,  and  in  the  growth  of  hair. 
"• '  Having  thus  cursorily  noticed  that  there  are  evidences  of 
a  spiral  arrangement  in  the  animal  kingdom,  I  may  state  that 
Dr.  Barry  conceives  that  this  disposition  is  more  or  less  dis- 
played in  the  various  fibrous  organs  of  the  body,  and  conse- 
quently in  the  muscular  fibre. 

"  '  According  to  Dr.  Barry,  whose  views  on  this  subject  are 
familiar  to  many  present,  the  ultimate  muscular  fibre  is  com- 
posed of   a  double   spiral  filament,  which,  for  the  sake  of 
illustration,  might  be  compared  to  the  two  strands  of  a  twisted 
rope,  to  which  objects,  indeed,  the  fibre,  when  seen  under  the 
microscope,  often  bears  a  striking  resemblance.    In  examining 
different  specimens,  single  spirals  are  occasionally  seen,  pre- 
senting, in    some  instances,  an  appearance  exactly  like  the 
turns  °of  a  corkscrew ;    but  the  fully  formed  fibrilla  seems, 
according  to  the  account  and   drawings  publishe<l,  to  be  com- 
posed of°  two  spirals.     The  formation  of  the  spiral  fibre  of 
muscles  and  other  organs  is  first  developed,  according  to  Dr. 
Barry,  in  the  red  particles  of  the  blood,  of  which  process  he 
has  given  a  minute  account.     The  plates  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions  represent  a  coil   of  disc-like  bodies,   variously 
disposed  within  the  elliptical  corpuscles  of  reptiles,  and  the 
circular  particles  of  the  mamnuilia.     And  here  I  may  men- 
tion,  that  it  is   an   important   part  of   Dr.   Barry's  general 
theory   respecting  the   high   importance  of  the  cytoblasts  of 


m 


226 


swedenborg's  theories  of  form. 


swedexborg's  theories  of  form. 


227 


nucleated  cells,  that  the  coils  just  mentioned  are  produced 
by  the  divisiou  and  mukiplication  of  the  nucleus  of  the  red 
particle. 

"  '  Such  are  the  accounts  of  the  two  other  most  recent  ob- 
servers of  the  muscular  fibre.  It  would,  of  course,  be  pre- 
sumptuous indeed  to  attempt  to  decide  the  question  ;  I  will, 
therefore,  merely  mention  one  or  two  circumstances  which  may 
now  throw  some  light  on  this  subject.  That  there  is  a  peculiar 
spiral  connected  with  the  muscular  tissue,  is  now  admitted  by 
the  best  observers.  Dr.  Barry  figured  in  one  of  his  plates,  a 
spiral  fibre  Avound  around  a  fasciculus ;  in  some  months  pre- 
vious to  the  announcement  of  Dr.  Barry's  researches.  Dr. 
Lccson  had  discovered  and  demonstrated  to  some  gentleman 
connected  with  the  hospital,  a  spiral  of  the  same  character, 
that  is  to  say,  which  is  wound  around  a  primitive  fasciculus. 
This  seems,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  from  several  examinations, 
to  correspond  in  position  to  the  delicate  transparent  sheath  ot' 
the  primitive  fasciculus  so  beautifully  demonstrated  by  Mr. 
Bowman,  and  called  by  him  the  sarcolomma.  A  few  evenings 
since  I  was  present,  when  Dr.  Lccson  showed  his  spiral  to 
Mr.  Bowman  and  Mr.  Busk,  when  the  former  gentleman, 
with  characteristic  candor,  admitted  it  was  a  structure  he  had 
never  seen  before.  But  you  will  observe,  gentlemen,  that  this 
part  of  which  I  am  now  speaking  does  not  touch  the  main 
question — the  nature,  namely,  of  the  ultimate  fibre ;  for  the 
spiral  demonstrated  by  Dr.  Leeson  surrounds  the  primitive 
fasciculus.  At  the  time  mentioned,  however,  Dr.  Leeson  had 
satisfied  himself  that  the  ultimate  fibre  itself  consists  of  a 
spiral. 

"  '  It  is  proper  to  notice,  that  in  the  year  1838,  Mr.  Mandl 
must  have  seen  something  of  the  same  kind ;  for  he  states, 
though  this  part  of  his  account  is  incorrect,  that  the  Avell-known 
transverse  stride  seen  on  the  muscular  fasciculi  are  merely  the 
coils  of  a  band  of  cellular  tissue,  spirally  disposed  around  the 
ultimate  filaments.' " 


nQ\ — From  (lie  Intellectual  'Repository^  January^  1848,  London, 

"  To  the  Editor  of  the  Intellectual  Repository  : 

u  5^v^ — Iq  his  Preface  to  the  Principia,  Swedenborg  says : 
t  We  affirm,  moreover,  that  in  every  finite  there  are  three 
motions,  namely,  a  progressive  motion  of  the  parts,  an  axil- 
lary, and  a  local  motion,  provided  there  be  no  obstacle.'  And, 
'  We  affirm  again,  that  all  these  motions  proceed  from  one 
fountain  head,  or  from  one  and  the  same  source,  namely,  from 
a  SPIRAL  motion  of  the  parts,'  &c.  .  .  .  '  This  motion  is 
most  highly  mechanical,  and  most  highly  natural.'  Again  it 
is  stated, — '  Nature  is  similar  to  herself,  and  cannot  be  different 
in  the  largest  elementary  volume  from  what  she  is  in  the 
smallest ;  in  the  macrocosm  from  what  she  is  in  the  micro- 
cosm.' 

"  Now  from  these  '  Principia '  it  follows,  that  all  the  plane- 
tary bodies,  including,  of  course,  the  earth  on  which  we  dwell, 
must  be  considered  as  '  finites '  on  the  greatest  scale  ;  and  as 
each  of  these  bodies  appears  to  be  in  the  condition  of  having 
'  no  obstacle '  to  prevent  the  manifestation  of  their  inherent 
motions,  we  ought  to  find  them  exhibiting  each  of  the  three 
motions  above  named.  That  they  do  all  exhibit  two  of  these 
motions,  namely,  an  axillary  and  a  local  or  orbital  motion,  is 
now  universally  admitted  ;  but  until  a  comparatively  recent 
period,  no  other  regular  and  defined  motion  seems  to  have 
been  suspected.  That  the  solid  crust  of  the  earth  is  liable  to 
elevation  and  depressions,  is  among  the  ascertained  facts  of 
geology,  but  I  am  not  aware  that  any  law  or  rule  has  been 
shown  for  these  changes.  It  was  therefore  with  no  small 
interest  that  I  read  in  a  paper  on  '  Creation,'  in  the  last  num- 
ber of  The  Westminster  Review^  a  statement  which  goes  to 
prove,  from  actual  observation,  that  the  '  parts '  of  the  earth 
have  that  '  progressive  motion,'  which,  according  to  the  phi- 
losophy of  Swedenborg,  they  ought  to  possess,  and  from  the 
very  cause  which  he  assigns  for  it ;  namely,  a  spiral  motion 
of  the  axis ;  and  that  your  readers  may  participate  in  the 
interest  which  attaches  to  the  subject,  I  transcribe  for  their 
perusal  an  extract ; — 


'■■\ 


228 


swedexborg's  theories  of  form. 


"  *  There  is,'  says  the  writer,  '  one  problem  of  the  earth's 
motion,  connected  with  what  is  called  the  precession  of  the 
equinoxes,  of  which  only  an  imperfect  and  unsatisfactory 
solution  has  hitherto  been  given,  and  which  has  a  most  impor- 
tant bearing  upon  the  geological  phenomena  to  which  we  are 
now  alluding.'  (That  is,  to  the  remains  of  tropical  productions 
in  arctic  climes,  &c.)  'By  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes  is 
understood  an  annual  change  of  the  place,  or  precise  spot,  at 
which  the  sun  in  the  ecliptic  crosses  the  plane  of  the  equator, 
producing,  twice  in  the  year,  equal  days  and  equal  nights  all 
over  the  world.  The  two  points  of  intersection  of  the  spring 
and  autumnal  equinox  recede  from  east  to  west,  at  the  rate  of 
fifty  and  a  quarter  seconds  annually,  or  one  degree  in  seventy- 
one  and  a  half  years ;  and  travel  round  the  entire  circumfer- 
ence of  the  earth  in  -^5. 869  years,  the  period  which  was 
termed  by  the  ancients  '•  a  Platonic  year.'  Its  physical  cause 
is  '  the  attraction  of  the  sun  and  moon  upon  the  protuberant 
parts  of  the  earth's  equator  combined  with  the  diurnal  rota- 
tion.' * 

"  '  The  effects  of  this  attraction  have  been  described  by 
astronomers  as  producing  both  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes 
and  a  slight  oscillation  of  the  axis  of  the  earth,  called  its 
nutation.,  by  which,  twice  in  the  year,  the  plane  of  the  equator 
inclines  towards  the  ecliptic,  and  returns  as  often  to  its  former 
position. 

"  '  It  is  now  held  by  some,  that  this  motion  of  the  earth's  axis 
is  not  oscillatory,  but  spiral  :  involving  a  gradual  change  in 
the  relatice  position  of  the  different  parts  of  the  earth  in  reference 
to  the  equatorial  and  polar  regions,  although  the  mass  itself 
retains  the  same  general  inclination  ; — as  in  a  spinning  ball, 
which  has  always  an  upper  and  a  lower  side,  although  the 
same  side  is  not  always  the  upper  or  the  lower.  This  change, 
we  are  told,  is  so  minute,  as  to  be  scarcely  perceptible  in  a 
hundred  years ;  but  amounts,  in  the  course  of  the  precessional 
round  of  the  Platonic  year,  to  a  difference  in  the  latitude  of 
all  places,  of  about  three  and  a  half  degrees. 

"  '  For  the  mathematical  data  upon  which  this  hypothesis  is 

♦  "Encyclopaedia  Brittanica,"  vol.  xviii.,  page  506. 


swedenborg's  theories  of  form. 


229 


founded — first  submitted  to  the  Astronomical  Society  by  Cap- 
tain Bergh — we  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  Tables  of  M.  de 
la  Lande,  the  observations  of  Dr.  Maskelyne,  in  1788,  and 
Vince's  Astronomy.  The  fact  of  any  changes  in  the  axis  of 
the  earth,  excepting  that  of  a  semi-annual  oscillatory  movement, 
has  been  stoutly  denied,  and  the  question  will  admit  of  much 
discussion  ;  but  the  evidence  in  favor  of  the  New  Theory  has 
made  sufficient  impression  on  our  minds  to  induce  us  to  call 
attention  to  the  subject,  and,  assuming  its  correctness,  we 
would  briefly  note  the  conclusions  to  which  it  leads.' 

"  Then  follow  various  speculations  on  the  power  of  this 
motion  to  occasion  the  geological  phenomena  adverted  to 
within  brackets  above.  And  it  is  also  stated,  in  foot  notes, 
that  scarcely  any  astronomer  of  eminence  can  agree  with  his 
predecessors  as  to  the  exact  latitudes  of  the  long-established 
public  observatories  ;  and  that  all  reasons  but  the  right  one 
have  been  adduced  to  account  for  these  discrepancies :  namely, 
that  the  sites  have  really  rhanged  their  positioji ;  and  it  is  fur- 
ther affirmed,  that  ancient  churches,  and  other  buildings, 
erected  due  east  and  west,  are  now  found  to  deviate  from  that 
position. 

"  The  length  of  time  necessary  to  elapse  before  this  pro- 
gressive motion  can  be  shown,  by  repeated  observation,  to  be 
the  result  of  an  order  as  fixed  and  determined  as  that  which 
is  the  basis  of  Kepler's  Laws,  or  the  Newtonian  System 
of  Gravitation,  renders  it  probable  that  many  years  may  roll 
away  before  the  Swedeuborgian  hypothesis  is  fully  admitted. 
Nevertheless,  we  may  have  sufficient  faith  in  the  stability  of 
Eternal  principles  to  anticipate  it  as  a  '  fact  accomplished,* 
and  that  the  giant  genius  of  Swedenborg,  which  enabled  him 
to  generalize  a  century  in  advance  of  his  age,  will  eventually 
be  both  acknowledged  and  appreciated." 


2.   The  Doctrine  of  Leasts. 

This  doctrine  is  taught  by  Swedenborg  in  the  following 
passages : — 

"  It  is  one  of  the  rules  in  the  doctrine  of  degrees,  that  a 
particle  of  any  volume  or  homogeneous  mass  constitutes  its 

20 


230 


swedenborg's  theories  of  form. 


swedenborg's  theories  of  form. 


231 


least  volume  or  its  least  mass,  or  that  this  particle  is  a  small 
volume  or  small  mass  in  its  smallest  term  or  boundary,  or  is 
a  unit  of  the  volume  or  homogeneous  mass  in  which  it  is. 
This  particle  or  unit,  how  often  soever  it  may  be  repeated,  in 
whatever  numbers  it  may  be  congregated,  however  it  may  be 
increased  in  multitude  ;  or  on  the  other  hand,  to  whatever 
fractions  its  aggregate  may  be  reduced,  however  it  may  be 
diminished  in  number,  or  decreased  in  multitude,  yet  never 
makes  any  transition  into  an  inferior  or  superior  degree.  Thus 
water,  oil,  spirits,  whether  we  assume  a  part  of  it,  a  small 
drop,  a  streamlet,  a  lake,  or  an  ocean,  does  not  cease  to  be 
water,  or  oil,  or  spirits.  .  .  .  Common  salt,  nitre,  alum, 
stone,  metal  of  any  given  species,  whether  it  be  a  portion,  a 
mass,  a  mountain,  does  not  cease  to  be  sah,  stone,  or  metal, 
belonging  to  that  species.  .  .  .  The  same  rule  holds  in 
regard  to  all  other  things,  the  division  of  which  continues, 
without  any  change  of  nature,  even  to  their  component  units, 
or  the  constituent  elements  of  that  degree." — Econom,  of  A. 

K.,  Part  I.,  n.  156. 

"  No  series  can  be  complete  or  effective  without  involving 
at  least  a  trine  ;  that  is,  a  first,  a  middle,  and  a  last.  These 
three  must  be  so  ordered,  that  the  first  term  disposes  the 
second,  and  disposes  the  uUimate  both  mediately  and  immedi- 
ately." Again,  ''Nothing  can  be  bounded,  completed,  or 
perfect,  that  is  not  a  trine.  Sometimes  even  a  quadrine  is 
necessary,  or  a  still  more  multiple  series  or  sequence,  exactly 
according  to  the  ratio  between  the  first  and  last  term,  that  is, 
to  their  distance  from  each  other.  Meanwhile,  whatever  be 
the  relation,  there  must  be  at  least  a  trine,  to  procure  har- 
mony. Otherwise  no  termination  or  conclusion  is  possible. 
.  .  .  So  in  every  science  and  art :  the  binary  is  ever  the 
imperfect ;  hence  some  third  thing  is  always  involved  either 
tacitly  or  openly." — Animal  Kingdom,  Part  I.,  n.  229. 

*'  In  a  series  of  three  degrees  there  are  three  distinct  units, 
or  three  distinct  quantities  of  units ;  or,  should  any  one  prefer 
another  mode  of  expressing  it,  in  a  series  of  three  degrees, 
there  are  three  substances  or  simple  forces  to  be  considered  as 
units ;  one  of  which  is  more  simple  than  another,  yet  having 
a  mutual  relation  to  each  other ;  thus  the  other  things  com- 


posed   of  them,    are    as   numbers  composed   of  such   units, 
each  of  which    is   homogeneous   to  its    own  unit   (n.   156). 
Thus    in    the   animal   kingdom   there    are    three    successive 
fluids  to  be  considered  as  quantities,  viz.,  the  red  blood,  the 
intermediate  blood,  and  the  spirituous  fluid,  each  of  which 
has   reference  to  its   own   unit  as  the    most  simple   particle 
of  its  own  degree   (n.   115,   156).     ...     It  is  the  same 
also  in  the  vegetable  and  mineral  kingdoms,  thus  in  every 
species  of  metal,  mineral,  earth,  stone,   sah,  water,  oil,  and 
spirit,  in  every  degree  of  composition  of  which  there  are  par- 
ticles, which  are  the  units  of  their  quantities.     .     .     .     .     • 
Consequently,  as  this  is  the  case  with  substances,  so  it  is  the 
case  with  their  essences,  attributes,  accidents,  and  qualities 
(n.  619-627).    .    .     .    "— Econom?/ o/^. /i..  Part  L,  n.  629. 
"  Every  series   of  things   simuUaneous,  or,  in  other  words, 
every  aggregate  of  things  co-ordinate,  admits  of  being  divided 
till  youTrrive  at  its  unit ;  beyond  which  you  cannot  proceed 
further,  and  yet  leave  a  unit,  or  a  part  of  that  degree  ;  for  if 
this  unit  be  resolved,  there  no  longer  remains  a  unit  of  its 
own  degree,  but  of  a  superior  degree.     For  a  unit  itself  is  a 
series  of  several  other  units,  because  it  is  itself  in  the  series 
of  the  universe  ;  nor  can  anything  be  conceived  as  not  being 
in  a  series,  except  the  first  substance  of  all  (n.  586).     Con- 
sequently, a  superior  unit,  and  the  proximately  inferior  unit 
of  the  same  scries,  are  to  each  other  in  a  triplicate  ratio ; 
that  is,  the  one  bears  the  same  ratio  to  the  other  as  the  root  to 
its  cube  :  the  case  is  the  same  with  the  rest.     Thus  they  are 
not  homogeneous  to  each  other ;  neither  are  the  units  of  dif- 
ferent series,  [though  they  be  of  the  same  degree,]  unless  they 
are  contained  under  the  same  genus.     For  to  the  production 
of  all  the  variety  that  exists  in  the  universe,  it  is  requisite 
that  there  be  a  distinct  series,  viz.,  one  within  another,  one  in 
juxtaposition  with  another,  and  one  for  the  sake  of  another ; 
yet  all  are  wonderfully  connected  with  each  other,  and  all  have 
reference  to  the  first  series  of  the  universe.     Units  thus  con- 
sidered are  either  of  a  determinate  or   certain   quantity  or 
quality,  as  in  all  terrestrial  things  ;  or  of  one  that  is  undeter- 
mined or  varying,  as  in  the  auras  of  the  world,  amongst  the  parts 
of  which  therefore  there  is  a  harmonious  variety  (n.  604-606), 


I      1 
I 


232 


swedenborg's  theories  of  form. 


SWEDENB0RG*S  THEORIES  OF  FORM. 


233 


parts  which,  nevertheless,  in  respect  to  their  own  ratios,  are 
determinate." — Id.  n.  630. 

"  The  least  or  prior  forms  are  the  models  and  the  ideas  of 
the  larger  or  posterior  forms ;  each  of  them  comprehends  in 
it  all  those  things  that  follow  in  order,  and  that  carry  the  end 
to  the  ultimate  effect." — Anim.  Kingd.^  Part  I.,  n.  44. 

"  Prior  substances,  viewed  in  themselves,  and  in  their  own 
nature,  are  more  perfect  than  such  as  are  posterior  viewed  in 
themselves  and  their  nature  (n.  176).  They  are  more  per- 
fect, for  instance,  in  regard  to  form,  essence,  attributes,  acci- 
dents and  qualities ;  consequently  they  are  more  distinct, 
similar,  unanimous,  constant,  and  fluid ;  they  are  in  the  fuller 
enjoyment  of  their  elastic  force  ;  they  are  also  more  beautiful, 
and  more  disposed  to  agreement ;  hence  also  it  follows,  that 
they  are  less  limited,  more  free,  in  greater  potency,  more  sen- 
sible, more  rational,  more  durable  (n.  100-102,  115,  238, 
259)." — Econ,  of  Anim.  Kingd.,  Part  I,  n.  615. 

"  Everything  is  still  more  perfect  in  the  superior  degree,  so 
perfect  indeed  as  to  be  considered  as  it  were  the  analogue,  the 
eminent,  and  unassignable  correspondent,  of  the  similar  quali- 
ties, powers,  faculties,  and  modes  of  the  inferior  degrees." — 
Id.  n.  176. 

By  this  doctrine  the  following  points  are  established  : — 

1.  Every  substance  of  the  animal,  vegetable  and  mineral 
kingdom  may  be  divided  into  its  least  parts  without  losing  any 
of  its  qualities  and  attributes. 

2.  In  every  substance  of  the  animal,  vegetable  and  min- 
eral kinjjdom  there  is  a  series  of  three  deo^rees.  When  the 
division  has  been  carried  down  to  the  component  units  of  the 
lowest  degree,  by  a  still  further  diminution  the  parts  of  tlic 
second  degree  are  laid  open,  and  so  on  until  the  component 
units  of  this  degree  are  reached,  when  by  a  continued  reduc- 
tion the  particles  of  the  inmost  degree  are  finally  set  free. 

3.  The  greater  the  reduction  of  a  substance  into  its  con- 
stituent particles,  the  more  distinct  are  its  effects,  and  the 
greater  its  power. 

The  first  of  these  points  has  been  proved  in  a  remarkable 
manner  by  the  discoveries  made  by  the  Messrs.  Kirchhoff'  and 
Bunsen  with  the  ''  spectroscope."     By  this  instrument  it  has 


been  discovered  thai  every  elemental  substance,  especially  the 
alkaline,  presents  a  peculiar  image  in  the  flame  in  which  it  is 
burned.  These  images  are  minutely  described  by  the  spec- 
troscopists ;  and  by  their  means  they  can  discover  elemental 
substances  in  immeasurably  smaller  quantities  than  by  the 
most  delicate  chemical  tests  ;  thus  proving  that  these  alkaline 
substances  preserve  their  identity  and  their  individual  qualities, 
as  far  as  human  ingenuity  has  been  able  to  trace  them. 

The  other  two  points  of  this  doctrine  have  been  proved  m 
an  equally  convincing  manner  by  the  medical  system,  called 
"  Homoeopathy."  The  practitioners  of  this  system  have  dis- 
covered that  substances,  which  in  their  crude  form  exercise  a 
scarcely  perceptible  influence  upon  the  human  system,  when 
administered  in  a  triturated  or  diluted  form  produce  the  most 
marked  effects.  They  have  also  found  that,  when  the  human 
system  (by  disease)  is  rendered  peculiarly  sensitive,  or  pre- 
disposed  to  receive  impressions  from  certain  substances  in 
nature,  it  is  affected  by  medicines  in  the  very  highest  state  of 
mechanical  attenuation.  Another  result  of  their  experience 
is,  that  chronic  diseases  which  are  deeply  seated  in  the  system 
frequently  yield  only  to  medicines  in  the  highest  possible 
attenuated  form ;  because  in  this  form  ''  they  are  more  per- 
feet  in  regard  to  form,  essence,  attributes,  accidents,  and 
qualities,"°and  are  "less  limited,  more  free,  in  greater 
potency,  more  sensible,  more  rational,  more  lasting." 

20* 


swedenborg's  physiological  theories,  etc.       235 


II 


SWEDENBORG^S    PHYSIOLOGICAL    THEORIES 
AND    ANATOMICAL    DISCOVERIES. 

1.    Introductory  Remarks, 

The  number  of  rational  discoveries  made  by  Swedenborg  in 
Physiology  is  in  excess  of  those  arrived  at  by  him  in  any 
other  science ;  but  the  difficulty  of  confirming  them  by  the 
results  of  modern  science,  is  greatly  enhanced  by  the  fact  that 
the  Physiology  of  the  present  day  has  no  theories  worthy  of 
the  name.  Physiologists  appear  to  regard  the  human  body  as 
little  more  than  a  compound  of  detached  parts,  and  not  as  an 
organized  whole.  The  only  real  effort  towards  a  rational  con- 
solidation of  these  parts  is  found  in  Prof.  Hyrtl's  celebrated 
work  on  Anatomy,*  where  he  elucidates  the  different  regions 
of  the  human  body.  These  regions  Swedenborg  has  arranged 
into  one  grand,  rational,  organic  whole. 

"  There  are  certain  organs  in  the  body  which  have  always 
been  looked  upon  as  the  opprohria  of  physiologists,  who  indeed 
appear  to  fail  wherever  nature  does  not  speak  by  an  ultimate 
fact ;  that  is  to  say,  wherever  there  is  a  clear  field  for  the 
understanding  as  apart  from  and  above  the  senses.  The 
absence  of  an  excretory  duct  is  sufficient  to  consign  an  organ 
in  perpetuity  to  the  limbo  of  doubt.  Surmise,  indeed,  respecting 
its  functions  is  still  allowed,  but  proof  is  considered  impossible. 
We  might  as  well  pretend  to  know  the  nature  of  the  world  of 
spirits  as  to  know  the  function  of  the  spleen.  We  should  be 
as  rank  visionaries  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other,  since  we 
should  be  placing  an  implicit  dependence  upon  reason,  in  a 
matter  where  the  bodily  senses  give  no  direct  information. 

♦  Handbuch  der  Topographisclien  Anatomie,  von  Joseph  Hyrtl. 

(234) 


Swedenborg  did  pretend  to  know  both ;  and  ill  he  fared  in  con- 
sequence with  the  scientific  world,  and  with  the  first  reviewer 
of  his  'Animal  Kingdom'  in  the  'Acta  Eruditorum  Lipsi- 
ensia.'     They  said  he  was  a  'happy  fellow,'  and  laughed 
outright.    Without  stopping  to  do  more  than  direct  the  reader's 
particular  attention  to  his  doctrine  of  the  spleen,  the  supra- 
renal capsules,  and  the  thymus  gland,  as  being  satisfactory 
and  irrefragable,  it  may  be  wondered  why  the  physiologists 
should  single  out  those  organs  as  especial  subjects  whereon  to 
make   confession    of  ignorance.     There  is  modesty  in   their 
confession,  but  it  ought  in  justice  to  have  embraced  more. 
These  organs  are  closely  connected  to  others,  and  ignorance 
respecting  them  involves  ignorance  respecting  the  others  also. 
Connection  of  structures  in  the  body  is  also  connection  of  func- 
tions, forces,  modes,  and  accidents.     If  the  function  of  the 
spleen  be  unknown,  so  precisely  to  the  same  extent  are  the 
functions  of  the  pancreas,  the  stomach,  the  omentum,  and  the 
liver ;  if  the  functions  of  the   succenturiate  kidneys  be  un- 
known, so  are  the  functions  of  the   diaphragm,  the  kidneys, 
the  peritonaeum,  and  indeed  of  the  whole  body  ;  for  the  body 
is  a  continuous   tissue,  woven  without  a  break   in   nature's 
loom.     To  be  ignorant  of  a  part,  is  to  be  ignorant  of  some- 
thing that  pervades  the  whole.     The  disease  that  affects  the 
spleen  affects  the  whole,  for  the  spleen  is  in  all  things,  and  all 
things  arc  in  the  spleen.     To  recur  to  the  liver  ;  what  is  the 
amount  of  knowledge  respecting  its  functions  ?    Precisely  this, 
that  the   hepatic   duct   proceeds    from    it,    and   carries    bile 
into  the   duodenum.      The   bile  and  the   duct   are   the   sum 
and  substance  of  the  modern  physiology  of  the  liver  ;  it  is 
prorsus  in  occulto  why  either  bile  or  duct  should  exist.     The 
truth  then  is,  that  there  is  as  much  known  about  the  liver  as 
about  the  spleen,  and  no  more  ;  in  the  one  case  it  is  known 
that  there  is  an  excretory  duct,  in  the  other  that  there  is  none. 
Alas  !  the  scientific  mind  is  steeped  in  the  senses,  and  is  the 
drudge  of  their  limited  sphere."—"  Introduction  to  the  Animal 

Kingdom,'* 

We  shall  now  subjoin  a  few  extracts,  showing  that  the  little 
progress  made  in  rational  physiology  since  Swedenborg's  time, 
has  all  been  anticipated  by  him. 


I 


I! 


236 


swedenborg's  physiological  theories 


2.   The  Vitalitt  of  the  Blood. 


AND   ANATOMICAL   DISCOVERIES. 


237 


From  the  Daily  Tnhune,  New  York,  1847. 

"  In  the  number  of  Silliman*s  Journal  for  January,  1847, 
pp.  108-9,  under  the  head  of  '  Researches  on  the  Blood,*  we 
have  an  account  of  some  interesting  experiments  performed  by 
the  distinguished  French  philosopher,  M.  Dumas,  by  which 
the  vitality  of  the  blood  globules  is  demonstrated.  After  some 
account  of  his  experiments  and  their  results,  the  Report  says  ? 
*In  attempting  to  overcome  this  difficulty,  M.  Dumas  dis- 
covered the  remarkable  property  of  the  blood  globules,  that 
as  long  as  they  were  in  contact  with  the  air  or  aerated  water, 
— in  short,  as  long  as  they  were  in  the  arterial  condition, — the 
saline  solution  containing  them  passed  colorless  through  the 
filter,  and  left  them  upon  it;  on  the  contrary,  as  soon  as 
the  globules  have  assumed  the  violet  tint  of  venous  blood,  the 
liquid  passes  colored.'  Toward  the  close  of  the  report,  the 
following  conclusion  is  drawn  from  the  experiments  of  Dumas, 
and  considered  fully  demonstrated  by  them  : — '  Thus  the  globules 
of  the  hlood  seem  to  possess  vitality,  as  they  can  resist  the  solvent 
action  of  sulphate  of  soda  as  long  as  their  life  continues,  but 
yield  to  this  action  readily  when  they  have  fallen  into  asphyxia 
from  privation  of  air.' 

"  Now,  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  the  doctrine  respecting  the 
vitality  of  the  blood,  which  Dumas  has  now  demonstrated 
experimentally,  has  not  been  the  generally  received  one  among 
men  of  science,  though  some  have  regarded  it  as  a  highly 
probable  theory.  But  in  one  of  Swedenborg's  Philosophical 
Tracts,  which  has  recently  been  published,  and  the  translation 
of  which  has  just  reached  this  country,  we  find  a  short  treatise 
on  'The  Red  Blood,'  in  wliich  the  author  distinctly  asserts 
that  the  blood  is  a  living  substance.  The  following  is  the 
heading  of  one  chapter  on  this  subject : — 

" '  The  globule  of  the  red  blood  contains  within  it  the  purer 
blood  and  the  animal  spirit,  and  the  latter  the  purest  essence 
of  the  body,  that  is  to  say,  the  Soul ;  whereby  the  blood  is  a 
spirituous  and  animated  humor,* — And  the  heading  of  another 
chapter  is, — '  There  is  a  common  and  obscure  life  in  the  red 
blood  I ' " 


Our  most  eminent  surgeons  are  beginning  also  to  admit  this 
truth.  Mr.  Liston,  Professor  at  the  London  University,  in 
the  last  edition  of  his  work  on  Surgery,  writes  thus :  "  Some 
have  denied  the  existence  of  vitality  in  the  blood ;  and  to  some 
minds  it  may  perhaps  be  difficult  to  conceive  how  a  fluid 
could  be  possessed  of  this  principle.  But  no  one  can  either 
doubt  or  deny  that  the  blood  in  its  distribution,  in  its  manner 
of  receiving  increase,  in  the  secretions  furnished  by  it,  and  in 
its  various  morbid  changes,  is  governed  by  laws  and  principles 
which  cannot  be  explained  by  those  of  chemistry  and  me- 
chanics, but  must  belong  to  some  other  power.  No  one  can 
plausibly  object  to  the  laws  by  which  the  blood  is  governed 
being  referred  to  the  power  of  life,  and  to  their  being  called 
mtal  principles,^* — (Elements  of  Surgery,  edit.  1840.) 

BiCHAT  says  that  "  the  chemist  who  analyzes  the  fluids  has 
at  best  but  their  caput  mortuum  as  it  were,  as  the  anatomist 
possesses  only  the  skeleton  of  the  solids  he  dissects."  And 
again,  "  I  doubt  much  if  fluids  purely  inert  could  circulate  in 
living  vessels.  Life  is  indispensable  both  to  the  vessel  and  its 
contents." — (General  Anatomy.) 

Alterations  in  the  vital  properties  of  the  blood  are  now  con- 
sidered by  many  as  the  principal  cause  of  disease. 

Dr.  Alison,  Professor  of  Medicine  in  the  University  of 
Edinburgh,  says,  in  a  "  Dissertation  on  the  State  of  Medical 
Science  from  the  Termination  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  to  the 
present  time,"  "  the  most  important  inference  that  has  been 
drawn  from  recent  labors  is  certainly  this,  that  the  important 
phenomena  of  disease  mostly  depend  on  alterations  in  the 
strictly  vital  properties  of  the  fluids,  especially  the  blood." — 
(Cyclop,  of  Practical  Medicine,  Vol.  L) 

Swedenborg  says  on  this  subject,  "  For  this  reason  it  is, 
that  the  universal  body  is  sick  when  the  blood  is  sick,  and 
vice  versa ;  and  that  in  the  greater  number  of  diseases,  it  is 
sufficient  to  find  a  medicine  for  the  blood  alone,  to  restore  the 
body  to  health."— (Tract  on  "  The  Red  Blood,"  chap,  iii.) 


3.   The  Motion  of  the  Brain. 
In  a  work  entitled  ^'  Institutiones  Physiologice,**  1787,  (s.  201,) 
Blumenbach,  treating  of  the  brain,  says :  "  That  after  birth  it 


ii 


m 


238 


swedenborg's  physiological  theories 


undergoes  a  constant  and  gentle  motion,  correspondent  with 
respiration  ;  so  that  when  tlie  kings  shrink  in  expiration,  the 
brain  rises  a  little,  but  Avhen  the  chest  expands  it  again 
subsides."  In  a  note  he  adds,  that  John  Daniel  Schlichting 
(Comment.  Litter.,  Nov.  1744,  p.  409)  first  accurately  de- 
scribed this  phenomenon.  But  the  discovery  seems  due  to 
Suedenborg,  as  he  fully  described  it  in  the  "  Economy  of  the 
Animal  Kingdom,"  1740,  Part  I.  n.  280,  283,  367-369,  551 ; 
Part  II.  35-37,  which  was  published  before  Schlichting  wrote. 

4.    The  Moving  Powers  employed  in  the  Circulation 

OF  the  Blood. 

In  another  part  of  the  same  "  Institutiones  Physiologiae," 
when   speaking  of  the    causes  of  the  motion  of  the  blood, 
Blumenbach  has  the  following  remark:    "When  the  blood 
is  expelled  from  the  contracted  cavities,  a  vacuum  takes  place, 
into  which,  according  to  the  common  laws  of  derivation,  the 
neighboring  blood  must  rush,  being  prevented,  by  means  of 
the  valves,  from  regurghating."     In  the  notes,  this  discovery 
is  attributed  to  Dr.  Wilson,  the  author  of  An  Inquiry  into  the 
Moving    Powers   employed   in   the    Circulation    of  the    Blood, 
(See  also  Dr.  Young's  Croonian  Lecture  in  the  Phil.  Trans, 
for  1809.)     But  it  appears  that  the  same  principle  was  known 
long  before  to  Swedenborg,  and  is  applied  by  him  to  account 
for  the  motion  of  the  blood.     In  the  "  Economy  of  the  Animal 
Kingdom,"  in  the  section  on  the  circulation  of  blood  in  the 
foetus,  and  on  the  foramen  ovale,  (Part  I.,  n.  349,)  he  says: 
*'Let  us  now  revert  to  the  mode  by  which  the  cerebrum 
attracts  the  blood,  or,  according  to  the  theorem,  subtracts  that 
quantity  which  the  ratio  of  its  state  requires.     If  now  these 
arteries,  veins  and  sinuses  are  dilated  by  reason  of  the  anmiation 
of  the  cerebrum,  it  follows,  that  there  must  necessarily  flow 
into  them  thus  expanded,  a  portion  of  fresh  blood,  and  that 
indeed  by  continuity  from  the  carotid  artery,  and  its  tortuous 
duct  in  the  cavernous  receptacles,  and  into  this  by  continuity 
from  the  antecedent  expanded  and  circumflexed  cavities  of  the 
same  artery;   consequently  from  the  external  (or  common) 
carotid,  and  thence  from  the    aorta  and  the  heart;    nearly 
similar  to  a  bladder  or  syphon  full  of  water,  one  end  of  which 


AND   ANATOMICAL  DISCOVERIES. 


239 


is  immersed  in  the  fluid  ;  if  its  sides  be  dilated,  or  its  surface 
stretched  out,  and  more  especially  if  its  length  be  shortened, 
an  entirely  fresh  portion  of  the  fluid  flows  into  the  space  thus 
emptied  by  the  enlargement ;  and  this  experience  can  be 
demonstrated  to  ocular  satisfaction.  Now  this  is  the  bene- 
ficial result  of  a  natural  equation,  by  which  nature,  in  order 
to  avoid  a  vacuum,  in  which  state  she  would  perish,  or  be 
annihilated,  is  in  the  constant  tendency  towards  an  equilibrium, 
according  to  laws  purely  physical.  This  mode  of  action  of 
the  brains,  and  their  arterial  impletion,  may  justly  be  called 
physical  attraction ;  not  that  it  is  attraction  in  the  proper 
signification  of  the  term,  but  that  it  is  a  filling  of  the  vessels 
from  a  dilation  or  shortening  of  the  coats,  or  a  species  of 
suction  such  as  exists  in  pumps  and  syringes.  A  like  mode 
of  physical  attraction  obtains  in  every  part  of  the  body ;  as  in 
the  muscles,  which  having  forcibly  expelled  their  blood,  in- 
stantly require  a  re-impletion  of  their  vessels."  In  another 
part,  n.  458,  he  says :  "  There  exists  a  great  similitude  be- 
tween the  vessels  of  the  heart,  and  the  vessels  of  the  brains, 
so  much  so,  that  the  latter  cannot  be  more  appropriately 
compared  with  any  other.  4.  The  vessels  of  the  cerebrum 
perform  their  diastole,  when  the  cerebrum  is  in  its  constriction 
and  vice  versa;  so  also  the  vessels  of  the  heart.  5.  In  the 
vessels  of  the  cerebrum  there  is  a  species  of  physical  attraction 
or  suction,  such  as  that  of  water  in  a  syringe ;  and  this,  too, 
is  the  case  with  the  vessels  of  the  heart,  for  in  these,  by  being 
expanded  and  at  the  same  time  shortened,  the  blood  necessarily 
flows,  and  that  into  the  space  thus  enlarged."  Swedenborg 
says  also,  "  that  it  is  the  constant  endeavor  to  establish  a 
general  equilibrium  throughout  the  body,  which  determines  its 
various  fluids  to  every  part,  whether  viscus  or  member,  and 
which  being  produced  by  exhaustion,  the  efiect  is  such  a 
determination  of  the  blood,  or  other  fluid,  as  the  peculiar  state 
of  the  parts  requires." 

5.   Endosmosis  and  Exosmosis. 
Dr.  Wilkinson   says  in  a  letter  quoted  in  our  first  part 
(n.  79)  :  "  Another  principle  discovered  by  Swedenborg,  is 
the  permeability  of  membranes,  and  the  circulation  of  fluids 


240 


SWEDENBORG*S   PHYSIOLOGICAL   THEORIES 


throuf^h  them  in  determinate  channels ;  some  of  the  details  of 
which  are  now  grouped  under  the  names  '  Endosmosis '  and 
'  Exosmosis  * — two  phenomena  which  are  thought  discoveries 
of  the  present  day.  With  regard  to  the  lymphatic  system, 
Swedenborg  has  thoroughly  anticipated  the  beautiful  theory 
of  Dr,  Front,  etc." 

6.  Swedenborg's  Theory  of  Respiration. 
Dr.  Wilkinson  says  in  the  same  letter :  "  It  is  both  curious 
and  satisfactory  to  observe,  that  medical  authors  have  been 
for  ages  approximating,  in  the  way  of  effects  and  details,  to 
some  of  the  principles  elicited  by  Swedenborg.  To  instance 
one  of  these  causes — the  influence  of  the  respiratory  movements 
on,  and  their  propagation  to  the  viscera  and  the  whole  body. 
The  law,  that  the  body  in  general  and  in  particular  respires 
with  the  lungs — that  the  perpetuation  of  all  the  functions,  and, 
in  a  word,  of  corporeal  life,  depends  on  the  universality  of  this 
action,  as  a  law — is  peculiar  to  Swedenborg.  And  yet,  for 
centuries  the  fragments  of  this  truth  have  flitted  across  the 
mental  vision  of  physiologists.  Glisson  has  declared  it  of 
the  liver  ;  Blumenhach,  of  the  spleen  ;  Barry,  and  many  others, 
of  the  heart ;  Bell,  of  the  neck ;  Schlichting,  of  the  blood  in 
the  brain ;  Portat,  of  the  circulation  in  the  spinal  cord, — and  I 
could  easily  add  many  other  names  and  instances  to  this  list.*' 

On  the  influence  of  the  thoughts  and  the  affections,  and  thus 
of  the  brain,  which  is  their  organ,  upon  respiration,  Sweden- 
borg says  the  following : — 

"  The  general  state  of  animation  cannot  be  seen  better  re- 
flected than  in  the  general  state  of  the  pulmonic  respiration. 
For  as  often  as  the  brain  is  intent,  and  thinking  deeply,  or  is 
occupied  with  anxious  cares,  the  lungs  draw  their  breath  tac- 
itly and  slowly,  and  the  breast  either  rises  to  a  fixed  level,  and 
fears  by  any  deep  breath  to  disturb  the  quiet  of  the  brain,  or 
else  compresses  itself,  and  admits  only  a  small  amount  of  air. 
When  the  brain  is  exhilarated  and  joyous,  the  lungs  expand 
and  unfold.  When  the  brain  collapses  with  fear,  the  lungs 
do  the  same.  When  the  brain  is  disturbed  by  anger,  the 
lunirs  are  the  same.     And  so  it  is  in  the  case  of  all  other 


AND   ANATOMICAL   DISCOVERIES. 


241 


affections,  in  which  similar  states  are  observed  to  be  superin- 
duced upon  both,  and  this,  sometimes,  without  any  sensible 
change  in  the  vibration  of  the  heart  and  arteries  of  the  body." 
— Economy  of  the  Anwial  Kingdom,  Part  II.,  n.  10. 

Again,  "  Whenever  the  human  brain  is  pondering  reasons, 
and  directing  the  rational  mind  to  them,  it  desires  to  be  at 
rest,  and  to  draw  breath  quietly,  as  is  usual  with  intense 
thinkers."— /(?.,  Part  II.,  n.  42. 

See,  also,  what  Dr.  Wilkinson  says  on  this  subject,  in  n.  73 
of  our  first  part. 

The  effect  of  the  state  of  the  mind  and  of  thought  upon 
respiration  has  since  been  very  minutely  described  by  Kempe- 
LEN,  in  his  "  Le  Mecanisme  de  la  parole,"  Vienne,  1791,  where 
he  says : — 

"  §  32.  We  know  that  all  violent  movements  and  efforts  of 
the  human  body  cause  variations  in  the  respiration  ;  they  retard 
and  accelerate  it,  and  sometimes  suspend  it  entirely  for  some 
time.  Even  the  very  slightest  movements  occasion  such 
changes.  It  is  sufficient,  for  instance,  in  order  to  disturb  a 
regular  periodical  respiration,  simply  to  turn  your  eyes  upon 
another  object,  or  to  lay  your  hand  upon  something  else. 

"  §  33.  The  changes  which  our  soul  undergoes  also  influ- 
ence the  respiration.  A  shock,  fear,  anger,  pity,  joy,  love,  all 
this  makes  an  impression  upon  our  lungs,  as  well  as  upon  our 
heart.  But  not  only  the  violent  emotions  and  passions  of  the 
soul  exercise  such  an  effect ;  the  least  trifles  produce  a  similar, 
corresponding  change.  When  the  mind  fixes  its  attention 
upon  the  smallest  object,  as  upon  a  grain  of  sand,  the  respira- 
tion sometimes  stops  altogether,  in  order  not  to  cause  the  least 
movement  of  the  body  which  might  affect  the  application  of 
our  senses.  .  .  .  We  might  even  divine,  by  paying  atten- 
tion only  to  the  respiration  of  a  person,  without  his  saying  a 
word,  the  state  of  his  mind,  whether  he  is  tranquil  or  restless, 
contented  or  irritated.  We  often  notice  in  persons  who  are 
enjoying  a  most  perfect  repose  of  the  soul,  a  sudden  change, 
and  we  are  thus  enabled  to  tell  the  moment  where  one  idea  is 
succeeded  by  another.  This  may  be  noticed  not  only  when 
the  new  idea  is  sad  or  disagreeable,  but  even  when  it  is  of  an 
absolutely  indifferent  kind." 

21 


242  swedeneorg's  physiological  theories 


7.  The  Foramen  of  Monro. 

Frcm  the  Monthly  Review^  1844. 

"  The  first  persou  who  publicly  claimed  the  discovery  of  this 
passage  or  communication  between  the  right  and  left,  or  two 
lateral  ventricles  of  the  cerebrum,  was  Dr.  Monro,  the  second, 
of  Edinburgh.     For  a  long  time  many  anatomists  denied  its 
existence  ;  and  a  story  is  told,  we  think  of  one  of  the  Bells, 
who,  when  demonstrating  the  cerebrum  to  his  pupils,  used  to 
push  the  blowpipe  through  the  parictes  of  the  ventricles,  and 
excl|iim,  '  This  is  the  foramen  of  Monro  ! '     However,  it  was 
at  last  conceded  that  there  loas  a  foramen,  but  that  it  was 
known  before  Monro's  time.     Yet  we  do  not  remember  to 
whom  the  honor  of  the  discovery  was  generally  attributed,  but 
certainly  not  to  Swedenborg.     This  great  man,  however,  was 
not  always  to  be  denied   the  credit  which  was  due  him,  for  a 
writer  in  the  Intellectual   Repository  for  1824,  p.  170,  took  up 
the  cudgels,  and  proved  Swedenborg's  title  to  the  discovery, 
though  up  to  this  date  we  do  not  remember  any  treatise  on  the 
brain,    in   which   the    author   even    alludes   to    Swedenborg. 
Monro's  first  intimation  in  public  of  his  discovery,  was  on  the 
13th  of  December,  1764,  when  he  read  a  paper  to  the  Phil 
Soc.  of  Edinburgh  on  the  subject ;  but  in  his  work,  entitled 
'  Observations  on  the   Structure  and  Functions  of  the  Nervous 
System,*  he  says,  that  he  demonstrated  the  foramen  to  his 
pupils  as  early  as  the  year  1753.     Monro  allows  that  a  com- 
munication was  known  to  exist  between   these  two  ventricles 
and  the  third,  long  prior  to  his  time  ;  but  he  shows  that  it  Avas 
never  demonstrated  or  delineated  in  the  manner  he  had  done, 
nor  in  any  way  that  could  convey  any  precise  idea  concerning 
it — '  much  less  was  implied  the   existence   of  the  foramen.' 
The  channel  of  communication,  which  was   admitted  by  the 
anatomists,  seemed  to  be  referred  to  the  posterior,  or  back  part 
of  the  lateral  ventricles  ;  whilst  the  foramen  Monro  described, 
is  situated  at  the  anterior  or  front  part  of  the  ventricle.     Now, 
says  the  writer  in  the  Repository,  in  the  '  Regnum  Animale  of 
Swedenborg,'  p.  207,  the  following  striking  observation  occurs : 


AND   anatomical  DISCOVERIES. 


243 


*  Foramina  communicantia  in  cerebro  vocantur  anus  et  vulva 
prieter  meatum  seu  eraissarium  lymphae  quibus,  ventriculi 
laterales  inter  se,  et  cum  tertio,  communicant,' — which  may 
be  thus  translated:  'The  communicating  foramina  in  the 
cerebrum  are  called  anus  and  vulva,  beside  the  passage  or 
emissary  canal  of  the  lymph ;  by  these  the  lateral  ventricles 
communicate  with  each  other,  and  with  the  third  ventricle.' 
This  work  was  printed  in  1744,  or  nine  years  prior  to  the 
earliest  notice  by  Dr.  Monro,  of  the  foramen  in  question ! " 

We  are  not  inclined  to  lay  much  stress  on  discoveries  such 
as  these  that  may  be  attributed  to  Swedenborg ;  for  it  is  not 
in  the  discovery  of  facts  that  his  great  genius  shines,  but  in 
tliat  of  principles. 


III. 

SWEDENBORG^S  CHEMICAL  THEORIES. 
1.   Science  of  Crystallography. 

(a.) — From  "  Tlie  New  Jerusalem  Magazine"  for  Nov.  1830. 

"  The  science  of  Crystallography  is  of  recent  origin,  and 
has  lately  attracted  the  notice  of  some  very  able  men.  Nearly 
all  simple  substances,  and  many  of  the  compounds  found  in 
nature,  have  regular  forms.  These  are  of  almost  every  variety 
of  shape,  but  each  substance  has  its  own ;  and  this  original 
figure,  as  it  may  be  called,  often  serves  to  distinguish  sub- 
stances which  it  would  be  difficult  otherwise  to  discriminate. 
The  basis  of  the  science  is  an  analysis  of  the  various  figures, 
80  that  they  may  be  reduced  to  a  very  few  simple  forms,  which, 
by  addition  one  to  the  other,  may  make  all  the  existing  varie- 
ties. This  subject  is  mentioned  in  a  work  on  '  Chemical  Phi- 
losophy,' recently  published  in  Paris,  consisting  of  a  course  of 
lectures  delivered  in  the  college  of  France  by  M.  Dumas,  a 
gentleman  of  much  and  deserved  celebrity.  There  is  a  notice 
of  this  work  in  the  forty-fifth  number  of  the  Foreign  Quarterly 
Review^  published  in  London.  M.  Dumas  distinctly  ascribes 
to  Swedenborg  the  origin  of  the  modern  science  of  crystallo- 
graphy. He  says,  '  It  is  then  to  him  we  are  indebted  for  the 
first  idea  of  making  cubes,  tetrahedrons,  pyramids,  and  the 
different  crystalline  forms,  by  grouping  the  spheres  ;  and  it  is 
an  idea  which  has  since  been  renewed  by  several  distinguished 
men,  WoUaston  in  particular.'  " 

(b.^ — From  the  Intellectual   "Repository^  No.  160,  1853. 

"  In  a  lecture  on  '  Atoms,  and  the  Molecular  arrangement 
and  properties  of  bodies,'  receutly  delivered  at  the  Royal  Insti- 

(244) 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


245 


tution  in  Manchester,  by  the  eminently  scientific  lecturer  on 
Chemistry,  Prof.  F.  C.  Calvert,  it  was  asserted  by  the 
lecturer  that  '  Swedenhorg  was  the  first  to  discover  that  atoms 
were  spheres,  and  that  with  them  cubes,  octohedrons,  etc., 
could  be  formed.'  But  Balton  added  another  most  important 
fact ;  it  was  that  every  atom  was  surrounded  by  an  atmos- 
phere of  heat,  which  he  held  was  necessary  to  prevent  all 
matter  becoming  solid  through  the  force  of  molecular  attrac- 
tion." * 


2.  The  Relation  of  Water  to  the  Salts,  Acids  and 

Bases. 

The  following  account,  showing  ^  remarkable  confirmation 
of  Swedenborg's  "Principles  of  Chemistry"  by  modern 
science,  is  taken  from  a  review  of  this  work  which  appeared 
in    the    ''Neiv    Church    Quarterly   Review,"  vol.    i.,   pp.   37, 

271,  etc.: — 

We  first  transcribe  from  the  reviewer  the  followmg  state- 
ment of  Swedenborg's  idea  of  the  composition  of  water: 
"  As  the  series  of  actives  ends  in  fire,  so  the  series  of  finites 
ends  in  the  pure  material  finite  or  water ;  the  particles  of 
which  are  in  reality  inert,  being  rendered  fluent  by  an  ex- 
tremely  low  degree  of  heat,  occasioned  by  the  circulation  of 
the  ether,  which  is  interfluent  among  them.  The  expansion 
of  the  ether  and  the  evolution  of  heat  we  have  already  noticed 
as  co-ordinate  efiects ;  it  follows,  therefore,  that  the  more  the 
ether  is  expanded,  the  more  fluent  is  the  body  of  water,  be- 
cause  its  particles  are  kept  so  much  farther  apart ;  and,  on  the 
otlier  hand,  the  more  the  ether  is  compressed,  the  more  concrete 
is  the  water,  its  particles  approaching  nearer  to  each  other 
until  they  become  aggregated  even  into  a  solid  mass.  In  this 
way,  water  hardens  into  ice." — p.  37. 

The  reviewer  continues  on  page  271  :  "  The  atom  of  water 
is  described  as  a  round,  hard,  hollow  body,  formed  by  an 
arrano-ement  of  particles,  or  '  crustals,'  which  have  a  ^milar 


*  From  the  next  article  it  will  appear  that  Swedenborg  was  well 
acquainted  with  this  "  other  most  important  fact." 

21* 


246 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


nature  to  itself,  but  are  of  less  magnitude.     A  subtle  matter  is 
described  as  iuterfluent  among  the  atoms  or  large  particles, 
not  only  according  with  their  relative  situation,  but  m  some 
measure  producing  it,  and  the  situation  itself  is  quadrilateral, 
so  that  if  a  volume  of  water  be  represented  by  a  number  of 
balls,  the  first  layer  would  form  a  square,  and  every  successive 
layer  would  be  placed  perpendicularly  over  the  one  subjacent, 
the  centres  of  all  the  globules  intersecting  right  lines.     This 
position  is  demonstrably  the  most  natural  to  motion,  for  if  we 
suppose   one  layer  to   be  moved  diagonally  over  another,  so 
that  the  convex  parts  of  the  upper  might  M\  into  the  intersti- 
tial concavities  of  the  lower   series,  the  whole  volume  would 
be   locked  into  a  solid,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  given 
quadrilateral  position,  the  contact  of  the  atoms  is  only  in  one 
point.     This  position  also  has  the  further  advantage  of  sup- 
posing a  pressure  equal  in  all  directions,  according  to  the 
well-known  hydraulic  law,  which  Swedenborg  illustrates,  and 
in  fact  identifies,  with  the  local  motion  of  the  particles.     It 
supposes  likewise  a  thoroughfare,  admitting  in  all  directions 
of  the  free  ingress  and  egress  of  their  interfluent  element,  and 
thus  of  the  increase  or  diminution   of  its  relative  quantity, 
which  a-ain  supposes  a  variation  of  distance  between  the  par- 
ticles,  according  to  circumstances.     These   conditions    being 
given,  let  it  be  granted  that  the  crustals  of  the  water  particles 
are  held  in  their  configuration  by  the  interfluent  ether,  and  we 
have  the  leading  principles  which  connect  the  author  s  theory 
of  water  with  his  mechanical  theory  of  chemistry.    We  obtain 
at  the  same  time  also  a  view  of  the  earth's  surflice  from  the 
vanishing  point   of    geology,    where   it   passes   into   another 
science  (cosmogony)  by  the  last  resolution  of  its  strata  and 
rocks ;    or,   conversely   where  that  other  science  passes  into 
geolo-y  by  the  generation  of  the  primary  solids,  and  scatters 
over  °the  wide  plain  of  chemistry  its  more  brilliant  scintilla- 

'^  The  first  solid,  then,  was  produced  in  the  depths  of  the 
primeval  ocean  by  two  causes,— the  want  of  a  certain  depth  of 
the  interfluent  ether,  and  the  superincumbent  pressure  of  the 
waters  ;  the  efi'ect  of  which  was  the  disintegration  of  the  par- 
ticles, Ind  their  gravitation  into  the  interstitial  spaces  subja- 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


247 


cent  to  them.  In  these  spaces  the  particles  were  moulded 
into  angular  or  terrestrial  forms,  consisting,  first,  of  a  stoma^ 
which  may  be  described  as  a  cube  with  all  its  sides  cupped 
out ;  and  secondly,  of  arms  and  branches  like  hollowed  trian- 
gles, attached  to  each  of  its  corners.  In  a  word,  this  primitive 
solid  being  moulded  between  the  globules,  and  exactly  filling 
their  spaces,  is  in  the  perfect  image  of  its  matrix. 

"  The  solid  thus  formed  is,  by  the  hypothesis,  a  perfect  salt, 
and  from  this,  as  the  first  earthy  atom — from  the  mutations  to 
which  it  is  subject,  and  its  continually  changing  relation  to 
the  particles  of  water — are  derived  other  saline  and  acid  sub- 
stances, metals  and  configurations  innumerable.  On  the 
present  occasion  we  overlook  the  whole  of  the  deducible 
series,  and  confine  ourselves  to  the  foundation  of  the  theory, 
premising  that  the  facts  to  which  we  may  allude,  having  any 
reference  to  the  present  state  of  chemistry,  are  derived  from 
the  last  edition  of  Turner's  standard  work,*  and  consequently 
represent  the  results  of  the  most  recent  investigations. 

"  Three  important  generic  designations,  namely,  salts,  acids, 
and  alkalies,  have  undergone  a  considerable  extension  of  their 
meaning  consequent  on  the  progress  of  modern  discovery. 
Until  a  very  recent  period,  an  acid  was  defined  as  '  an  oxidized 
body  which  has  a  sour  taste,  reddens  litmus  paper,  and  neutra- 
hzes  alkalies ;  '  but  it  Avas  at  length  discovered,  first,  that 
oxygen  is  not  essential  to  acidity  ;  next,  that  the  test  of  litmus 
is  not  always  valid  ;  and,  lastly,  that  there  were  acids  which 
could  not  totally  overcome  the  reaction  of  potassa-t  '  Fads  of 
this  hind  have  induced  chemists  to  consider  as  acids  all  those 
compounds  which  unite  with  potassa  or  ammonia,  and  give  rise 
to  bodies  similar  in  their  constitution  and  general  character  to  the 
salts  which  the  sulphuric,  or  some  admitted  acid  forms  with  those 
alkalies:  Similar  is  the  extension  given  lo  the  meaning  of  the 
term  alkali,  it  being  now  agreed  to  place  among  the  alkaline 


*  Elements  of  Chemistry,  etc.  By  the  late  Edward  Turner,  M.  D. 
Edited  by  Baron  Liebig  and  Dr.  Gregory,  1847. 

t  "  We  are  risking  the  appearance  of  a  discrepancy  (which,  however, 
does  not  really  exist)  between  this  paragraph  and  the  next  but  one.  by 
passing  lightly  over  these  facts,  but  we  quote  them  for  the  results  to 
which  they  have  led." 


248 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


bases  '  all  tliose  bodies  ivhich  unite  definitively  ivith  admitted 
acids,  such  as  the  sulphuric  and  nitric,  and  form  with  them 
compounds  analogous  in  constitution  to  the  salts  which  ad- 
mitted alkalies  /wm  with  the  acidsJ  The  notion  of  salt, 
af^ain,  has  undergone  extension  on  a  similar  principle,  it  hav- 
ing been  found,  first,  that  oxygen  was  not  inseparable  from 
the  character  of  alkalinity ;  and  next,  that  hydracids  would 
unite  with  the  alkaline  bases,  and  produce  salts.  This  pro- 
gress has  been  followed  of  late  by  the  discovery  of  an  analogy 
between  the  double  sulphurets  and  oxygen  salts  by  the  Baron 
Berzelius,  and  other  advances  which  must  end  in  the  intro- 
duction of  entirely  new  views  on  this  class  of  bodies.  '  The 
researches  of  Graham  on  the  phosphates,  those  of  Liebig  on 
the  constitution  of  the  organic  acids  and  their  saUs,  and  the 
experiments  of  Dumas,  Clark,  Fremy,  Thaulow,  Peligot,  and 
many  others,  have  gradually  converged  to  the  point  of  recall- 
ing to  the  recollection  of  chemists  certain  profound  views  first 
su<'^ested  by  Davy  in  regard  to  chloric  and  iodic  acids  and 

OO  J  J  CJ  I'll* 

their  salts,  and  afterwards  applied  (apparently  Avithout  previous 
knowledge  of  what  Davy  had  done)  by  Dulong  to  the  salts  of 
oxalic  acid.  These  views  have  the  inestimable  advantage  of 
uniting  all  acids  into  one  series,  and  all  salts  into  another  ;  nay, 
these  two  series  may  even  be  considered  as  one,'  What,  then, 
will  be  said  of  a  theory  formed  more  than  a  century  ago,  and 
about  half  a  century  before  even  the  existence  of  oxygen, 
hydrogen  and  nitrogen  was  known,  being  yet  exactly  adapted 
to  a  state  of  the  science  so  advanced  that  the  editors  of 
Turner's  work  coufess  the  chemical  world  to  be  unprepared  for 
the  change  which  it  (we  mean  their  own  new  classification) 
must  necessarily  introduce  ? 

"  We  are  sincerely  desirous  of  avoiding  any  exaggeration 
on  the  score  of  Swedenborg's  claims,  but  what  are  tlie  facts 
of  this  remarkable  case  of  anticipation  ?  Swedenborg  begins 
his  chemical  manipulation  with  the  particle  of  salt  described 
above,  and  requires  our  assent  to  one  of  the  simplest  causes 
of  change  which  it  is  possible  to  conceive,  namely  the  separa- 
tion, by  a  slight  cause  of  disturbance,  of  the  branches  of  the 
salt  from  its  stoma,  when  the  latter  becomes  an  alkaline  base, 
and  the  former  constitute  acids.     It  follows  as  one  of  the  sim- 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


249 


plest  consequences,  from  this  theory,  that  the  reunion  of  the 
acute  particles  which  form  the  acid  with  the  basic  atom  form- 
ing the  alkali,  must  reproduce  the  original  salt.  Now  what 
can  be  more  singular  than  the  fact  that  the  definitions  of  these 
three  substances  have,  a  few  years  past,  been  drawing  closer 
and  closer  to  Swedenborg's  theory,  and  what  amounts  to  a 
very  close  approximation,  indeed,  is  considered  as  a  thing  that 
must  be  ? 

"  But,  again,  the  constituent  particles  of  a  perfect  salt,  in 
Swedenborg's  theory,  are  the  constituent  particles  of  water, 
and  these  in  modern  chemistry  are  hydrogen  and  oxygen  in 
the  proportion  of  1  to  8  ;  the  equivalent  of  water,  therefore,  by 
our  own  analysis  is  9,  and  it  is  the  same  in  Swedenborg' s  theo- 
retical calculation.  But  if  his  notion  of  the  formation  of  a 
salt  by  the  disintegration  of  water  be  a  true  one,  and  if  acids 
and  alkalies  be  forn>ed,  according  to  his  theory,  by  the  disinte- 
gration of  salts,  our  analysis  ought  to  prove  that  all  these 
substances  contain  what  we  know  to  be  the  constituents  of 
water,  namely,  oxygen  and  hydrogen.  Now  what  say  the 
editors  of  Turner's  work  in  extenuation  of  the  new  views  to 
which  we  have  alluded,  as  the  result  of  discoveries  by  Berze- 
lius and  others  ?  '  In  regard  to  acids,'  they  remark,  *•  the  first 
point  to  be  noticed  is,  that  all  so  called  oxygen  acids,  in  the  free 
or  what  may  be  called  the  active  state,  contain  hydrogen.  ,  ,  . 
Sulphuric  acid  and  phosphoric  acid,  no  doubt,  may  be  obtained 
anhydrous ;  but  it  is  worthy  of  special  notice,  that  in  this  state 
they  do  not  possess  the  properties  of  these  acids,  and  only  acquire 
them  on  the  addition  of  water.'  The  demonstration,  therefore, 
that  hydrogen  as  well  as  oxygen  is  in  intimate  association  with 
the  acids,  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  new  classification.  It  is  equally 
remarkable,  that  the  strongest  arguments  in  fiivor  of  the  pro- 
posed theory  are  derived  from  an  examination  of  the  salts ; 
for  it  is  found  that  a  salt  is  formed  when  the  acids  are  neutral- 
ized by  a  metallic  oxyde,  or  by  ammonia,  etc.,  and  in  this 
case  a  separation  of  water  occurs,  not  to  mention  the  conver- 
sion of  sulphur-salts  into  oxy-salts— a  most  significant  circum- 
stance in  relation  to  Swedenborg's  theory. 

"  The  whole  circle  of  modern  chemists,  we  presume,  are 
prepared  to  shake  hands  with  us  on  the  fact  that  crystallization 


250 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


is  governed  by  mechanical  laws ;  since  herein  the  occult 
geometry  of  nature  gives  its  lines  and  surfaces  to  the  broad 
daylight.  The  same  laws,  however,  which  explain  the  sev- 
eral phenomena  of  affinity  and  combination,  become  in  our 
author's  theory  the  exponents  of  crystallization.  The  saline 
particle  itself  is  of  course  a  crystal,  but  by  the  combination 
of  such  particles  with  atoms  of  water,  the  production  of  larger 
crystals,  in  their  well-known  solid  forms,  is  explained. 
*  When,'  Swedenborg  observes,  '  owing  to  a  deficiency  of 
water,  there  are  no  longer  six  aqueous  particles  to  surround  a 
saline  particle,  that  combination  of  the  salt  and  water  called 
crystallization  begins.'  The  neatness  of  this  conception  can 
hardly  be  exhibited  without  a  reference  to  the  illustrative 
figures  and  calculations  in  the  work  before  us  ;  it  consists, 
however,  in  the  fact,  that  the  water  and  the  salt  are  supposed 
to  be  both  together  fluid  so  long  as  there  are  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  water-particles  to  fill  up  tlie  concavities  of  the  salt,  and 
give  it  a  certain  roundness  by  the  protrusion  of  their  convex 
surfaces  beyond  the  points  ;  and  that  this  fluidity  ceases  when, 
instead  of  being  surrounded  by  water,  the  salt  incloses  or  sur- 
rounds it,  so  that  the  angular  parts  are  protuberant,  and  com- 
mence the  formation  of  visible  lines  and  Surfaces  by  their 
conjunction  in  indefinite  numbers.  By  locking  their  arms 
together,  two  particles  of  salt  inclose  one  atom  of  water  so 
effectually,  that  there  is  no  way  of  escape  except  by  disintegra- 
tion ;  while  the  atoms  which  are  received  within  the  outer 
concavities  may  of  course  glide  away  with  comparative  ease. 
Now  there  is  a  singular  coincidence  in  Turner's  ''  Elements." 

"  '  The  water  of  crystallization  is  retained  by  a  very  feeble 
affinity,  as  is  proved  by  the  phenomena  of  efflorescence,  and 
by  the  facility  with  which  such  water  is  separated  from  the 
saline  matter  by  a  moderate  heat,  or  by  exposure  to  the 
vacuum  of  an  air-pump  at  common  temperatures.  It  is  fre- 
quently observed,  however,  that  a  portion  of  the  water  is 
retained  with  such  obstinacy  that  it  cannot  be  expelled  by  a 
temperature  short  of  that  at  which  the  salt  is  totally  decom- 
posed. This  water,  as  in  the  case  of  the  hydrated  acids,  is 
considered  to  act  the  part  of  a  base,  and  is  hence  commonly 
called  basic  water.     But  from  the  observations  of  Graham,  it 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


251 


would  appear  that  the  water  thus  retained  does  not  always  act 
the  part  of  a  base,  but  is  in  a  peculiar  state  of  combination, 
characteristically  different  both  from  basic  water  and  water  of 
crystallization.  (Pr.  Tr.  Ed.  xii.  297.)  In  his  original 
paper  he  distinguished  it  as  saline  water;  but  in  a  recent 
report,  read  to  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  Liv- 
erpool, he  has  called  it  constitutional  water.  It  is  readily 
distinguished  from  water  of  crystallization,  by  being  retained 
by  a  stronger  affinity,  and  by  being  essential  to  the  existence 
of  the  salt  of  which  it  constitutes  a  part.  From  basic  water 
it  differs  by  not  being  removed  from  its  combinations  even  by 
the  most  powerful  alkalines,  whereas  it  is  readily  removed, 
and  its  place  in  the  compound  assumed  by  certain  anhydrous 
salts :  it  is  also  expelled  from  an  acid  more  readily  than  basic 
water.  From  an  example,  the  character  of  water  in  these 
different  states  of  combination  will  be  readily  understood. 
The  crystals  of  the  common  phosphate  of  soda  are  composed 
of  1  eq.  of  phosphoric  acid,  2  eq.  of  soda,  and  25  eq.  of 
water.  On  exposing  them  to  a  temperature  of  21 0*^,  24  eq. 
of  the  water  are  readily  expelled ;  but  the  25th  eq.  is  retained 
with  such  power,  that  a  red  heat  is  necessary  to  effect  its 
complete  separation.  By  the  loss  of  the  24  eq.  of  water,  the 
crystalline  form  and  texture  of  the  salt  is  entirely  destroyed, 
but  the  residual  amorphous  mass  has  all  the  properties  of  the 
common  phosphate  ;  whereas  by  the  loss  of  the  25th,  an  en- 
tirely different  salt,  the  pyrophosphate  of  soda  is  produced. 
It  will  hence  appear,  that  the  24  eq.  of  water  which  were  lost 
at  212°  were  only  essential  to  the  existence  of  the  crystal, 
while  the  loss  of  the  25th  eq.  effected  that  of  the  salt.' " 


3.  Swedenborg's  Theory  of  the  Actives,  Finites,  and 

Elements  of  Creation. 

In  order  to  enable  our  readers  to  obtain  a  rational  insight 
into  the  following  articles,  treating  on  the  chem^ical  elements 
of  the  common  atmosphere  and  water,  it  becomes  necessary 
for  us  to  present  them  with  a  succinct  statement  of  Sweden- 
borg's theory  of  the  above  substances  and  forces  in  nature. 
We  shall  do  so  in  Mr.  Beswick's  words,  whom  we  have 


252 


SWEDENBORG'S   CnE!VnCAL   THEORIES. 


already  introduced  to  our  readers  as  the  able  commentator  of 
Swedenborg's  "  Principia"  The  materials  of  the  following 
articles  are  all  drawn  from  his  elaborate  series  of  papers  on 
the  "  Principia"  which  appeared  in  the  years  1849-50,  in  the 
"  Intellectual  Repository,"  in  England,  and  during  the  years 
1855-56,  in  the  "  New  Church  Repository,"  in  New  York, 
where  this  gentleman  at  present  resides. 

Theory  of  Creation. 
(a.) — The  Simple^  or  Natural  Point. 

"  In  the  Principia,  Swedenborg  has  placed  the  primal  gen- 
erative force,  issuing  immediately  from  the  Infinite,  in  a 
conatus  towards  Spiral  motion,  which,  from  its  being  circular 
in  all  its  dimensions,  he  regards  as  one  perpetual  ens  possessed 
of  the  highest  perfection  and  the  mightiest  capabilities,  because 
being  at  once  most  highly  mechanical  and  most  highly  geome- 
trical. This  primary  movement,  connecting  the  finite  with  the 
Infinite,  he  called  the  Simple,  or  first  natural  point.  It 
means,  in  fact,  the  disposition  of  the  Infinite  Himself  to  pro- 
duce creation — the  potential  or  initial  act  of  intending.  This 
concentration  to  a  certain  determinate  end,  though  the  <3nd  or^ 
limit  comprises  an  infinitude  of  particulars,  and  an  endless 
duration  of  things,  is  nevertheless  regarded  as  the  first  limit 
or  determination  of  the  infinite  capabilities  of  the  Divine 
Nature.  As  yet  there  is  no  creation  ;  consequently  nothing 
mechanical  nor  geometrical,  for  these  imply  finitude  and 
boundary.  Of  this  Simple,  he  says,  '  it  is  pure  and  total 
motion,'  Part  I.,  chap,  ii..  No.  12  ;  and  that,  '  it  belongs  to  the 
Infinite,  and  exists  in  the  Infinite  ; '  and  in  the  next  number 
(13)  he  defines  it  to  be  '  an  internal  state  or  effort  (conatus)  to 
motion  ;  hence  he  says  : — 

"  '  Thus  it  will  be  like  effort  or  conatus  itself ;  for  in  conatus 
not  only  is  motion  everywhere  present,  but  with  it  also  its 
force,  direction,  and  celerity.  This  conatus,  or  effort  towards 
motion,  may  be  called  its  internal  state,'  n.  B 

"  The  Simple,  therefore,  as  we  have  stated,  means  the  co- 
natus or  first  internal  effort  of  the  Infinite  to  commence  the 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


253 


work  of  creation.     This  work,  evidently,  includes  all  that  the 
Divine  being  could  desire,  will,  and  design ;  and  hence  its 
realization,  though  its  continued  working  includes  eternity,  is 
regarded  as  the  limit  of  his  endeavor.     All  the  efforts  of  an 
Infinite  Providence  may  be  summed  up  in  one  single  object, 
and  to  this  everything  has  ever  tended  and  ever  will  tend. 
And  because  this  Simple,  or  internal  effort  of  the  Infinite, 
had  only  one  object  in  view  as  the  end  of  its  action,  or  the  end 
of  Creation— because  of  this,  Swedenborg  has  represented  it 
as  having  only  one  limit,  or  one  tendency.     Of  course  this 
one  tendency  is  applicable  to  the  Infinite  as  a  being  wherein 
there  are  infinite  things.     As  Swedenborg  observes,  (Divine 
Love  and  Wisdom,)    'an  Infinite  without  infinite  things  in 
himself,  is  not  infinite,  but  as  to  the  bare  name,'  n.  17,  Part  I. 
So  likewise  in  the  Principia,  he  considers  tliese  infinite  things 
in   the   Infinite  have   each  this  limit  or  unity  of  tendency  ; 
hence  there  will  be  an  infinitude  of  these   Simples,  points, 
tendencies,   or   efforts;    all  having  the  same   end   in  view. 
Herein  lies  the  final  cause  of  the  infinite  diversity  iu  Crea- 
tion." 


(I).) — ^The  First  Finite. 

"  As  yet  there  is  nothing  but  the  Infinite,  in  which  there  are 
infinite  things,  having  a  unity  of  purpose  and  a  similar  ten- 
dency to  action.  The  next  step  would  discover  them  in  har- 
monious and  enduring  activity, — omnipotent  within  their 
limits  •  and  having  the  utmost  uniformity  of  fluxion.  It  is 
evident  that  the  form  of  fluxion  will  be  the  most  powerful  and 
potent  in  being,— it  must  be  omnipotent,  because  it  moves  and 
wields  the  whole  aggregate  of  being.  This  form  of  fluxion, 
Swedenborg  affirms,  is  the  spiral,  because  being  circulai;in  all 
its  dimensions,  it  is  one  perpetual  ens,  possessing  the  highest 
mechanical  power,  and  the  most  perfect  geometrical  figure  ; 
and  hence  having  the  greatest  perfection  and  the  mightiest 
capabilities.  Inasmuch  as  each  of  the  infinite  things  in  God 
is  at  once  both  omnipotent  and  omnipresent  in  the  spiral 
figure  thus  formed,  we  can  have  no  difficulty  in  seeing  that 
the  figure  formed  by  each  is  the  first  actual  subject  of  Crea* 

22 


254 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


tion  ;  it  IS  the  first  creation  of  space  and  figure ;  before  it 
there  were  no  changes ;  and  therefore  no  time,  and  no  degrees 
of  celerity  by  which  its  instants  are  measured.  But  inasmuch 
as  it  is  God,  or  each  of  the  infinitude  of  things  in  God,  which 
are  thus  active,  it  is  clear  an  infinitude  of  spiral  spaces  or 
figures  will  be  created,  forming  a  sphere  of  living  activity. 
.  .  .  .  Here,  therefore,  is  the  beginning  of  creation. 
These  existences  are  bounded  both  as  to  time  of  birth  and 
outline  of  figure.  They  are  therefore  finites  ;  but  inasmuch 
as  they  are  the  first  existences,  they  are  aptly  designated  the 
FIRST  FINITES.  The  Infinite  has  now  surrounded  Himself 
with  an  halo  of  living  glory,  forming  an  atmosphere  of  living 
substances,  in  which  he  is  enshrouded,  and  in  which  he  is,  or 
the  infinite  things  of  Himself  are,  both  omnipotent  and  omni- 
present. These  finites  are  also  called  first  substances  or  sub- 
stantial ;  because  this  latter  term  is  applied  in  the  Frincipia 
only  to  created  subjects." 

(c.) — The  First  Active  and  Second  Finite. 

"In  Swedenborg*s  theory,  the  first  finite  expresses  the 
transmitted  force  from  the  Simple  or  conatus  of  the  Infinite, 
in  a  substantial  form.  The  finite,  therefore,  expresses  the 
limit  or  outline  of  its  operations,  and  the  consequent  figure 
formed  thereby.  We  say  a  substantial  form,  because  being 
omnipresent,  that  is,  instantly  or  ever  present  in  every  point 
of  the  space  thus  formed,  a  substantial  figure  would  result ; 
as  in  the  case  of  a  little  ball  which  is  whirled  round  by  a 
string.  On  this  account,  the  first  finites  are  actually  spiral 
figures  or  substances.  The  transmitted  force  of  the  simple, 
however,  keeps  them,  when  formed,  in  constant  activity  in  a 
spiral,  direction.  The  common  understanding  of  the  reader 
will  easily  conceive  that  when  these  spiral  figures,  in  constant 
activity,  come  in  contact,  they  will  spontaneously  fit  in  each 
other's  spires,  and  form  a  mass  of  spirals,  beautifully  arranged, 
from  which  an  aggregate  will  be  formed.  He  will  also  per- 
ceive that,  in  consequence  of  each  spiral  figure  pressing  on 
each  other  in  the  same  direction,  in  order  to  turn  round  in 
their  respective  places,  but  cannot,  the  whole  mass  will  be 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


255 


moved  in  the  same  direction,  and  will  thus  spontaneously  give 
to  itself  an  axillary  motion.  The  figure  thus  formed  will  be  a 
new  substance ;  being,  in  fact,  a  new  compound,  which  has 
formed  itself  entirely  of  first  finites,  or  spiral  substances. 
This  new  compound  is  called  a  second  finite.  On  the  other 
hand,  should  these  spiral  substances  of  the  first  finite  not  be 
in  contact,  they  will  then  be  projected,  and  run  off*  into  a 
spire,  into  which  they  will  be  impelled  by  the  transmitted  and 
irresistible  force  within  them.  They  will,  therefore,  have  a 
local  fluxion  in  the  form  of  a  spire,  where,  from  their  velocity, 
they  will  be  omnipresent  in  every  point  thereof.  These  are 
called  actives  of  the  first  finite." 

In  order  to  represent  the  true  nature  of  an  active,  Mr.  B. 
introduces  Swedenborg's  diagram,  representing  a  little  ball, 
which,  by  being  whirled  round  a  centre  by  means  of  a  string, 
produces  the  resemblance  of  a  circle.  The  point  where  the 
ball  is  present  is  perpetually  substantial  and  material.  If  the 
velocity  be  so  great  that  its  progressive  gradations  and  moments 
are  imperceptible,  it  follows  that  in  every  point  of  the  circle 
the  ball  is,  as  it  were,  present  and  perceptible.  A  resemblance 
to  a  substance  may  therefore  be  produced  by  motion. — Prin- 
dpia,  Part  I.,  chap,  v.,  n.  8. 

"The  only  difference,  therefore,  between  an  active  and 
finite  is  simply  this  :  A  finite  has  no  local  motion,  it  has  only 
an  axillary  ;  whilst  an  active  is  a  finite  in  local  motion.  That 
local  motion  may  either  be  spiral  or  circular,  according  as  the 
figure  itself  is  spiral  or  circular." 

(d.) — The  First  Element  out  op  which  Suns  and  Stars 

are  Formed. 


"  We  have  now  two  kinds  of  particles,  both  of  which  have 
been  formed  from  the  first  finites  or  substances.  The  one  is 
an  aggregate  of  substantial  spires  called  first  finites,  entirely 
passive  as  to  local  motion;  the  others  are  of  the  same 
class  of  first  finites,  unaggregated,  free,  and  in  an  active 
state  of  spiral  fluxion.  Hence  we  should  naturally  expect 
the  actives,  more  or  less  in  number,  to  whirl  and  collect 
around  themselves  the  inactive  masses  of  first  finites.     The 


256 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


internal  space  will  then  consist  of  actives,  and  the  external 
surface  purely  of  bundles  or  aggregations  of  first  finites,  which 
aggregations  are  called  second  finites.  Such  an  arrangement 
of  two  kinds  of  particles  is  called  an  element  ;  and  as  this  is 
the  first  created  arrangement,  the  substances  so  formed  are 
called  the  first  elements.  Swedenborg  affirms  that  of  such 
substances  the  suns  and  stars  are  made." — (See  Part  I. 
chap.  X.,  n.  3,  4.)* 

(e.)— Other  kinds  of  Actives,  Finites,  and  Elements. 

"  Other  kinds  of  actives,  etc.,  are  formed  by  a  continued 
application   of  the   above  processes, — by  the   aggregation  of 
finites  to  make  a  new  finite  ;  or  by  the  local  fluxion  of  a  finite 
to  make  an  active,  or  the  formation  of  new  elements  by  the 
combination  of  actives  with  finites,  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
allow  the  latter  to  surround  the  former;  the- internal  space 
always  being  filled  by  actives.     In  this  manner  are  the  vor- 
tical, magnetic,    ethereal,    and    other    elements    successively 
formed.     ...     It  appears,  therefore,  that  this  philosopher 
views  creation   as  a  substantial  outbirth  from  the  Creator— a 
graduated  manifestation  of  his  Infinite  activity  in  the  produc- 
tion of  spaces  and  forms  of  uses  ;  the  gradation  being  marked 
in  the  scale  of  creation  by  the  various  finites  or  limits.     The 
first  gradation  is  marked  by  the  first  finite,  or  first  substance ; 
the  second  by  the  second  finite,  or  second  substance  ;  and  so 
on  to  the  most  inert  substances  in  nature,  in  which  the  Infinite 
activity  has  ceased  to  manifest  itself  in  the  form  of  an  inde- 
pendent local  fluxion  of  each  substance, — nothing  but  gravita- 
tion  now   remains.      Centripetatiou,    or    gravitation,    in    its 
ordinary  acceptation,  very  beautifully  expresses  the  entire  loss 
of  that   Infinite   activity   to  which  we  have   referred,  which 
always  confers  the  power  of  individual  exertion  and  indepen- 
dency of  local  fluxion,  or  the  power  to  occupy  additional  space 


*»  According  to  these  passages,  the  solar  space  seems  to  consist  of 
the  actives  of  the  first  and  second  finites,  and  the  elementary  particles 
appear  to  take  their  rise  around  this  large  active  space,  (see  chapt.  x., 
n.  5,)  and  thence  to  spread  through  the  system. 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


257 


as  a  field  of  action.  Gravitation,  as  ordinarily  used,  is  a  term 
inapplicable  to  the  vortical,  magnetic,  ethereal,  and  other 
elements  capable  of  self-action,  or  of  taking  upon  themselves 
a  local  fluxion.  It  is  a  term  applicable  only  to  substances  at 
rest,  and  hence  they  gravitate  or  form  into  dead  inert  masses, 
incapable  of  self-fluxion.  Creation,  therefore,  is  conceived  to 
be  a  graduated  outbirth  of  substantial  forms  or  spaces  from 
the  Infinite  himself ;  which  forms  have  been  determined  by 
the  living  energy  and  activity  having  been  united  with  a 
definite  tendency  whilst  in  the  Infinite,  but  which  has  been 
modified  through  each  successive  gradation.  This  activity, 
running  throughout  Creation,  is  in  the  hands  of  the  infinite, 
who,  having  infinite  resources  and  capabilities  in  his  Infinite 
Love,  Wisdom,  and  Power,  will  to  eternity  improve  its  teu' 
dency ;  and  thus  endless  diversity  and  increasing  perfectibility 
of  Creation  itself  await  the  unborn  generations  of  the  family 
of  man.  Herein  lies  the  ground  of  our  belief,  that  no  philo- 
sophical theory  yet  propounded  is  so  grounded  in  fact,  philo- 
sophy, reason,  and  common  sense,  as  that  of  Swedenborg*s 
Priiicipia,  It  enables  us  to  enter  rationally  and  scientifically 
into  the  mysteries  of  that  great  truth, — the  progressive  im- 
provement of  Creation,  as  a  whole,  to  eternity." — Intellectual 
Repository,  1850,  pp.  252-59. 


4.  The  Compound  Nature  of  Atmospheric  Air. 

"  The  actual  discovery  of  that  twofold  nature  of  atmospheric 
air,  as  consisting  of  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  was  reserved  for 
Priestly  in  1772-4,  Scheele  in  1774-5,  Lavoisier  and  Tru- 
daine  in  1775,  Cavendish  in  1784-5,  and  for  Dumas  and 
Boussingault  in  our  own  time  ;  the  latter  of  whom  have  pre- 
sented the  world  with  a  demonstration  of  its  compound  nature 
by  a  most  refined  analysis  of  its  constituents.  Cavendish 
appears  to  have  the  merit  of  first  discovering  the  exact  pro- 
portion of  the  constituents  of  air  in  the  popular  sense  of  oxygen 
being  one-fifth."     We  give  Mr.  Beswick's  argument. 

Swedenborg,  as  early  as  1722,  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  compound  nature  of  air,  and  knew  the  gases  of  which  it 
is  composed.     Oxygen,  in   his  phraseology,  was  "the  fifth 

22* 


258 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


finite,"  and  nitrogen  "  the  first  and  second  elementaries."  By 
simply  exchanging  his  terms  for  those  which  are  now  in  use, 
the  fact  of  his  "  fifth  finite  "  being  identical  with  oxygen,  and 
the  ''  first  and  second  elementaries ''  with  nitrogen,  must  be- 
come evident  to  every  one  that  has  any  knowledge  of  the 
properties  of  these  gases.  In  the  following  quotations  from 
his  works  we  shall  accordingly  effect  this  change,  but  in  all 
other  respects  preserve  the  language  of  the  translator. 

"Air  consists  superficially  of  oxygen,  and  within  it  are  en- 
closed particles  of  nitrogen,"  Principia,  Part  III.,  chap.  vii. 

'"Oxygen  has  entered  into  the  surface  of  the  aerial  particle, 
and  nitrogen  into  the  internal  space." — Id, 

In  Part  III.,  chap,  v.,  n.  19,  he  gives  representations  of 
air-particles,  showing  the  relative  arrangement  of  the  oxygen 
and  nitrogen  particles  under  different  pressures ;  and  thereby 
accounting  for  the  elasticity  of  the  air. 

In  the  following  passages  oxygen,  i.  e.,  "  fifth  finites,"  are 
shown  to  be  supporters  of  fire : 

"  Oxygen  (i.  e.  '  fifth  finites  *)  creates  the  common  culinary 
or  atmospherical  fire."     Part  III.,  chap,  viii.,  n.  2. 

"  Let  us  consider  more  especially  the  active  state  of  oxygen, 
which  is  the  cause  and  origin  of  our  common  atmospherical 

fire."— Ic?.,  n.  4. 

"  Oxygen  constitutes  the  surface  of  a  particle  of  air,  and 
supplies  fire  with  its  element."— /(^.,  Part  III.,  chap.  vi. 

"  Fire  is  no  other  than  oxygen  itself  set  at  liberty." — Id., 

chap,  viii.,  n.  4. 

In  the  ''Miscellaneous  Observations,''  (Part  III.,  article— 
"  Hypothesis  of  the  Figure  of  the  Particles  of  Fire  and  Air,") 
Swedenborg   speaks   of  oxygen   as  igneous   matter,  or  fire. 

Hence  he  says, — 

"  The  particles  of  air  are  bullular,  with  exceedingly  minute 
particles   of  fire  [i.  e.,  'fifth  finites,'  or  oxygen]   an  theu- 

surfaces." 

"  Fire  forms  the  crust  of  the  air-particles." 
"  The  air  affords  matter  for  supporting  fire." 
"If  the  crust  of  the  particle  of  air  consists  of  igneous 
matter  [t.  «.,  oxygen],  it  follows,  that  there  is  more  fire  when 
the  supply  of  air  is  large,  provided  it  be  fresh." 


) 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


259 


As  oxygen  sustains  flame,  so  nitrogen  extinguishes  it. 
"This,"  Mr.  Beswick  says,  "is  the  great  characteristic  of 
nitrogen :  it  is  neither  combustible  nor  a  supporter  of  com- 
bustion ;  for  if  a  burning  body  be  immersed  in  a  jar  containing 
it,  the  fire  is  instantly  extinguished.  It  is  therefore  antago- 
nistic to,  and  an  extinguisher  of,  fire.  And  Swedenborir  has 
not  only  marked  out  this  substance  as  one  of  the  constituents 
of  atmospheric  air  having  a  greater  volume  than  oxygen,  but 
he  has  beautifully  described  this  essential  characteristic ;  and 
what  is  far  more  valuable,  because  being  a  desideratum  to  the 
chemical  and  scientific  world,  he  has  propounded  a  philo- 
sophical exposition  of  its  cause.  '  Fire,*  he  says,  '  is  no  other 
than  the  "fifth  finite"  {i.  e.,  oxygen,)  itself  set  at  liberty,  or 
flowing  in  a  space  where  it  can  run  freely.' — ^Principia,  Part 
III.,  chap,  viii.,  n.  4. 

"Should  we  present  a  substance  like  the  *  elementaries  * 
forming  nitrogen,  which  have  a  chemical  afiinity  for  these 
^finites'  by  convoluting  them  around  themselves  into  new 
surfaces  or  particles,  the  result  would  be  an  instantaneous 
fixation  and  cessation  of  activity.     So  says  Swedenborg : — 

"  '  The  "  fifth  finites  "  cannot  actuate  themselves  in  a  volume 
of  the  "  elements  "  without  immediately  being  converted  into 
ncAV  aerial  particles.*" — Id.,  n.  1, 

"  In  the  language  of  the  day,  this  simply  means  that  the 
particles  of  oxygen  cannot  support  fire,  or  be  the  active  agent 
of  combustion  in  a  volume  of  the  elementary  particles  of 
nitrogen,  without  immediately  being  converted  into  atmospheric 
air.     And  the  reason  is  thus  stated : — 

"  '  Inasmuch  as  "  elementaries  **  are  present  to  impede  them, 
and  to  convolute  them  into  new  surfaces.' — Id.,  n.  1. 

"  According  to  this  theory  oxygen,  or  the  '  fifth  finite,'  in 
an  active  state,  produces  heat  and  fire,  whilst  nitrogen,  or  the 
'elementary '  substance  forming  the  interior  of  a  particle  of  air, 
is  directly  antagonistic  to,  and  destructive  of,  fire,  and  ever 
tending  to  convolute  or  form  around  itself  the  substance  or 
element  by  which  heat  or  fire  is  supported. 

"It  is  a  matter  of  deep  regret,  and  of  deep  humiliation  to 
his  admirers,  that  this  theory  of  Swedenborg  has  not  had  an 
elaborate  and  an  able  exposition.     All  our  knowledge  tends  to 


260 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


make  these  apparently  loose  and  inapplicable  Prtndpia  matters 
of  every-day  proof,  and  of  dry  familiar  detail  in  the  elemental 
school  and  laboratory.     He  who  can  imderstand  this  theory 
will  soon  appreciate  its  value,  because  it  furnishes  some  of  the 
best  solutions  to  many  of  the  otherwise  inexplicable  problems  of 
nature.    It  explains,  upon  the  simplest  principles  in  dynamics, 
why  oxygen  alone  is  breathed,  and  why  it  is  the  chief  physical 
agent  in  °the  important  operation  of  breathing  or  respiration 
of  animals  ;  the  main  reason  being  on  account  of  its  dynamic 
virtue,  of  becoming   active  and  forming  heat,  and   thereby 
actuating  to  everything  in  connection  therewith  throughout  the 
system.  °  Nitrogen,  on  the  contrary,  if  admitted  in  considerable 
quantity,   would   put  an   end  to  this   excursive  or  actuating 
tendency  in  oxygen,  by  withdrawing  it  around  and  fixing  it  to 
itself,  thereby  depriving  it  of  its  dynamic  virtue ;  action  in 
such  a  case  must  cease,  and  death   result.     This   singular 
relationship  of  the  two  constituents  of  atmospheric  air  was 
most  beautifully   expressed    and    extensively   illustrated   by 
Swedenborg  in  his  Principia,  about  half  a  century  before  these 
facts  were  known.     It  also  presents  a  solution  to  an  important 
mystery  in  the  economy  of  the  vegetable  world.     It  explains 
why  vegetables,  when  actuated  by  the  sun  during  day,  give 
out  oxygen ;  whilst  during  the  night  oxygen  is  absorbed  on 
account  "of  its  dynamic  virtue,  and  to  promote  a  circulation 

of  the  fluids. 

"  Swedenborg  likewise  declared  that  the  element  least  m 
quantity,  or  that  which  occupies  only  the  surface  of  the  air- 
particles,  is  a  constituent  of  both  air  and  water ;  for,  so  long 
back  as  the  year  1721,  he  published  the  following  announce- 
ment, that — 

"  '  The  particles  of  water  belong  to  the  sixth  kind  of  hard 
particles  .  .  .  that  on  its  surface  there  are  crustals  of  the 
"  fifth  kind "  [t.  e.  oxygen].' 

"  The  above  is  given  in  his  Principles  of  Chemistry  (Part  IX. 
n.  1).  To  the  same  effect  is  his  chapter  '  On  Water'  in  the 
Principia,  published  thirteen  years  subsequently.  In  both 
works  the  '  fifth  finites,'  or  oxygen,  is  represented  as  forming 
the  surface,  and  a  considerable  portion  of  a  water  particle.  .  .  . 

"In  Swedenborg's  works  we  find,  not  only  the  acknowl- 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


261 


edged  theory  that  one  of  the  elements  of  the  air  is  the  grand 
supporter  of  atmospheric  combustion ;  but  also  the  highly 
important  theory,  that  this  same  constituent  of  air  enters 
largely,  by  decomposition,  into  actual  combination  with  solids 
of  every  description,  and  is  again  released  by  decomposition 
of  the  solids,  and  again  enters  into  the  formation  of  particles 
of  air.     Hence  he  says  : — 

*'  ••  There  are  many  evidences  to  show  that  the  oxygen  (i.  e. 
*'  fifth  finites  ")  enters  into  the  texture  of  terrestrial  bodies, 
such  as  animal,  vegetable,  oily,  and  sulphurous  substances.* — 
Principia,  Part  IH.,  chap,  viii.,  n.  8. 

"  We  may  arrive  at  the  same  conclusion  a  priori;  since  the 
particles  of  oxygen  (i.  e.  '  fifth  finites ')  are  of  such  a  nature 
that  the  hard  parts  of  vegetables  may  be  compounded  of 
them. — Id, 

"  But  this  chemical  combination  requires  the  dissolution  of 
the  air  particle,  so  as  to  release  the  oxygen  and  nitrogen. 
Hence — 

"  '  The  air  undergoes  a  process  of  dissolution  when  entering 
into  the  compages  of  the  parts  of  vegetables :  if  these  com- 
pages  be  dissolved,  the  air  (oxygen  and  nitrogen  formerly 
separated)  returns  again  to  its  former  state  .  .  .  and  the 
earth  restores  that  which  it  had  borrowed.' — Id. 

"  In  the  Principles  of  Chemistry^  Swedenborg  shows  that 
these  '  fifth  finites,'  or  oxygen  particles,  enter  more  largely 
into  the  composition  of  the  earth's  solids  and  fluids,  into  water 
and  the  whole  mineral  kingdom,  than  any  other  substance ; 
and  that  they  have  been  mainly  derived  from  the  atmosphere 
by  decomposition.  Now,  what  are  the  known  facts  of  the 
case  ?     Let  the  following  suffice  for  a  confirmation : — 

" '  Of  almost  every  form  and  kind  of  matter  which  sur- 
rounds us,  oxygen  forms  an  ingredient.  Its  compounds  are 
more  numerous  and  diversified  than  those  of  any  other  sub- 
stance with  which  we  are  acquainted. 

" '  It  forms  a  part  of  every  earth  we  tread  upon,  and  of 
every  vegetable  we  see  around  us ;  and  when  combined  with 
another  gaseous  body,  hydrogen,  it  forms  water ;  an  important 
and  essential  form  of  food  to  all  the  animal  and  vegetable 


262 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


263 


creation.' — Encyclopcedia  Metropolitana,  Heat  and  Chemistry, 
p.  647. 

"  '  Oxygen  constitutes  a  fifth  part  of  our  atmosphere,  eight- 
ninths  of  the  weight  of  water,  and  a  large  proportion  of  every 
kind  of  rock  in  the  crust  of  the  earth.' — Vestiges,  p.  19. 

"  Yet  the  idea  that  an  element  of  air  had  entered  so  exten- 
sively into  combination  with  almost  every  substance  by  decom- 
position, is  due  to  none  other  than  Swedenborg.  It  is  true, 
the  Stahlian  or  phlogistic  theory  existed ;  but  it  never  conjec- 
tured the  possibility  of  decomposing  atmospheric  air ;  for  its 
fundamental  teaching  involved  the  supposition  that  air  is  a 
simple  and  undecomposible  substance.  The  highly  important 
fact  of  its  decomposition,  and  the  extensive  union  of  one  of  its 
elements  with  terrestrial  substances,  is  now,  and  probably 
will  ever  be  regarded,  as  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  useful 
discoveries  in  chemical  science ;  for  certainly  no  other  dis- 
covery has  given  such  an  impetus,  or  enlarged  the  boundaries 
of  experimental  chemistry,  or  will  exercise  so  important  an 
influence  in  the  future  history  of  science,  as  that  of  the  decom- 
position of  atmospheric  air.  And  hence  we  doubt  not  but  that 
it  will  call  forth  from  future  generations  their  admiration  of 
this  neglected  and  despised  philosopher,  as  the  first  herald  to 
publish  the  Physical  Principia  of  Nature." 

The  object  which  we  have  in  view  in  pressing  the  impor- 
tance of  the  scientific  works  of  Swedenborg  upon  the  notice 
of  the  learned,  is  not  so  much  to  induce  them  to  examine  his 
claims  as  the  first  expounder  of  theories  that  have  since  been 
adopted  by  science,  and  of  which  she  has  conferred  the  honor 
of  first  authorship  upon  others  of  her  votaries,  as  to  aid  in  the 
general  advancement  of  science.  For  there  is  so  much  vitality 
in  the  scientific  principles  of  Swedenborg,  and  they  have  such 
a  lofty  rational  foundation,  that  it  will  take  science  many  ages 
to  reach  unaided  that  point  from  which  he  has  viewed  the 
universe  in  its  largest  and  smallest  dimensions.  Let  science, 
therefore,  take  hold  of  these  principles,  and  endeavor  to  be- 
come familiar  with  them,  and  a  beneficent  light  will  soon 
enlighten  its  progress  among  the  forces  and  elements  of  nature. 
In  the  following  pages  we  shall  see  how  easily  Swedenborg 
explains  by  means  of  his  theory  the  difi'erence  in  proportion 


of  the  two  constituents  of  air  in  different  localities  and  under 
different  circumstances. 

The  reader  will  recollect  that  an  air-particle  consists  of 
oxygen  particles  on  the  surface,  and  of  elementaries  within. 
Swedenborg  now  says  : — 

"  The  surface  of  the  aerial  particle  may  be  doubled,  tripled, 

or  variously  muhiplied  interiorly,  and  this  during  a  state  of 

compression ;  but  the  part  of  the  surface  which  recedes  towards 

the  interiors  is  formed  into  new  spherules  and  bullules  similar 

i  to  the  larger." — Part  III.,  chap,  vii.,  n.  11. 

"  By  this  process,"  says  Mr.  Beswick,  "  it  is  evident  the 
volume  of  the  particle  must  be  considerably  reduced.  Under 
it  the  '  finites '  or  oxygen  particles  pressed  within  are  described 
as  '  consuming '  the  '  elementaries  *  or  nitrogen  particles  there 
enclosed,  and  by  that  means  'forming  new  spherules  and 
bullules  ; '  in  other  words,  new  substances ;  for  the  nitrogen 
particles,  by  this  '  consuming '  or  combination,  are  said  to  lose 
their  elementary  character  and  become  solid  and  hard  ;  Part 
III.,  chap,  v.,  n.  19  ;  or,  as  is  said  of  an  air  particle. 

''  ^  It  likewise  follows,  that  the  aerial  particle  during  its 
highest  degree  of  compression  becomes  at  length  entirely  occu- 
pied by  small  similar  spheres,  extending  from  the  surface  to 
the  centre,  and  ceases  to  be  elastic  and  elementary,  growing 
hard,  and  similar  to  a  material  finite.'— 7(i.  chap,  vii.,  n.  11. 

"  As  noticed  above,  the  oxygen  particles  pressed  within  are 
said  to  consume  the  '  elementaries '  or  nitrogen  particles  by 
the  gradual  formation  of  a  new  class  of  substances  within  the 
particle  of  air.  During  this  compression  of  the  volume,  the 
*  elementaries '  in  the  interior  gradually  disappear,  whilst  the 
'  finites '  pressed  into  the  interior  absorb  them  and  generate  a 
new  substance;  hence  the  volume  of  'finites'  or  oxygen 
would,  during  this  compression,  gradually  occupy  a  greater 
portion  of  the  space  within,  besides  forming  the  whole  of  its 
superficies.  We  should  expect  to  discover  the  quantity  of 
oxygen,  or  of  these  '  fifth  finite '  substances,  varying  perceptibly 
in  the  interior  of  continents,  and  but  slightly  over  the  sea ; 
and  that,  whilst  in  polar  countries,  north  and  south,  aerial 
particles  would  be  compressed,  the  reverse  would  result  from 


264 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


265 


the  action  of  the  sun  in  tropical  climates.*  In  polar  regions, 
where  the  particles  are  compressed,  the  volume  of  '  elemen- 
taries '  within  will  suffer  most ;  but  in  tropical  climates,  the 
volume  of  oxygen  on  the  surface  will  appear  to  diminish  by 
the  expansion  of  the  particles,  and  consequent  increase  in 
volume,  of  the  enclosed  '  elementaries/  The  extremes  of  the 
seasons,  summer  and  winter,  will  produce  a  corresponding 
result,  in  every  locality  all  over  the  world.  Winter,  by  the 
compression  of  the  '  elementals '  within  aerial  particles,  will 
give  the  minimum  advantage  to  their  volume,  or  what  is  the 
same,  to  nitrogen ;  whilst  summer,  by  the  expansion  of  their 
volume,  will  give  the  maximum  advantage.  Hence,  Dr. 
Turner  remarks : — 

"  '  It  is  remarkable  that  this  (pure)  air  is  very  rich  in 
oxygeu.  That  procured  from  snow-water  by  boiling,  was 
found  by  Gay,  Lussac  and  Humboldt  to  contain  34.8,  and  that 
from  rain  water  32  per  cent,  of  oxygen  gas  ; '  whilst  ordinary 
atmospheric  air  has  only  20.8.  See  '  Elements  of  Chemistry/ 
p.  960,  and  p.  224. 

''  The  expansion,  during  summer,  will  cause  the  oxygen 
particles  forced  within  to  rush  back  to  the  surface.  Hence 
Svvedenborg  says : — 

"- '  The  buUular  particles,  which  during  their  expansion  are 
interiorly  in  a  state  of  nitency,  become  again  set  at  liberty, 
recede  to  the   surface,  and   enter  into  its  expanse.'     Chap. 

vii.  n.  11. 

"  From  these  two  physical  causes  the  proportionate  volumes 
of  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  or  finites  and  elementals,  will  be  in  a 
constant  state  of  oscillation,  the  mean  of  which  will  also  vary 
according  to  latitudinal,  local,  and  mensual  circumstances. 
These  theoretical  considerations  have  now  become  matters  of 
empirical  certainty.  We  could  quote  confirmations  from  the 
works  of  German,  French,  and  even  English  investigators,  if 
our  space  would  permit  and  the  case  demanded :  to  only  one 
instance  shall  we  refer: — 


j^ 


*"We  are  not  overlooking  Cavendish's  report  to  the  contrary; 
Phil.  Trans.  1783  ;  nor  the  more  recent  experiments  of  Martin's,  see 
Dumas  in  the  Annals  of  Cliemistry,  third  series,  t.  iii.,  1841,  p.  237." 


"  '  Some  observations  of  Davy  render  it  probable  that  the 
quantity  of  oxygen  varies  perceptibly,  although  but  slightly, 
over  the  sea,  and  in  the  interior  of  continents  according  to 
local  conditions,  or  to  seasons  of  the  year.'  ''—Cosmos,  vol.  i., 

p.  317. 

In  a  subsequent  article  Mr.  Beswick  makes  the  foUowmg 
remarks :—"  Another  fact  affirms,  that  the  proportionate 
volumes  of  the  two  elements  entering  into  the  composition  of 
atmospheric  air  are  various  in  different  localities  and  under 
different  circumstances.  This  fact  has  been  illustrated  from 
the  Principia,  An  additional  illustration  from  the  Observa- 
tions, with  proofs,  shall  now  be  given.  In  the  latter  work,  as 
in  the  former,  Swedenborg  assumes  what  is  now  universally 
admitted,  that  in  elevated  situations,  high  up  in  the  rarified 
regions  of  the  aerial  envelope  of  our  terraqueous  globe,  the 
air-particles  will  be  more  expanded  and  dilated ;  and  hence, 
there  will  be  less  of  the  '  fifth  finites,'  or  fire-feeding  particles 
of  oxygen,  in  a  given  volume,  than  there  will  be  in  the  same 
volume°on  the  terrestrial  surface,  when  the  air-particles  will 
be  compressed  ;  or  in  the  depths  of  the  ocean,  where  the  parti- 
cles will  have  their  greatest  compression.     His  thesis  is  given 

as  follows  : —  ^ 

"  « Hence,  in  the  highest  regions  of  the  atmosphere,  on  the 
tops  of  mountains,  and  above  the  clouds,  we  find  that  the  air  is 
very  rare,  and  scarcely  affords  matter  (fifth  finites  or  oxygen) 

for  supporting  fire. 

"  '  In  lower  situations,  these  particles  are  more  compressed, 
and  form  a  very  thick  surface  or  crust  to  the  air  particle  .  .  . 
hence,  they  are  compressed  into  a  narrower  space,  and  a 
thicker  crust  (of  fire  particles  or  oxygen)  is  produced.'— (See 
'  Hypothesis  of  Fire,  etc.') 

"  In  accordance  with  the  general  tenor  of  these  propositions, 
he  is  at  once  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  following  important 
conclusion,  which  the  facts  of  science  will  justify,  that  there 
is  less  of  the  fire-supporting  element,  oxygen,  in  warm,  rari- 
fied, and  distended  air,  than  in  cold,  heavy,  and  compressed 
air.     These  are  his  words  : — 

" '  There  is  less  fire  where  the  particles  of  air  are  more 
23 


266 


SWEDENBORG*S  CHEMICAL  THEORIES. 


rarified  or  distended;    but  more  fire  where  they  are   more 
compressed,  as  indeed  follows  from  the  hypothesis.' 

"  Or  more  forcibly  and  pointedly  stated  in  these  words : — 

"  '  Thus  in  the  same  space,  there  is  more  fire  in  compressed 
particles  than  in  dilated  particles. 

"  '  Thus  more  fire  (or  oxygen  particles)  exists  in  the  bottom 
of  our  atmosphere  than  in  its  upper  parts.* 

"  In  other  words,  there  is  more  oxygen  in  a  compressed 
volume  of  air  than  in  the  same  volume  of  uncompressed, 
dilated,  and  rarified  air.  Swedenborg,  therefore,  lays  it  down 
as  an  invariable  rule,  that  wherever  air-particles  are  more 
than  ordinarily  compressed — as  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea — and 
under  whatever  circumstances  that  compression  may  be  pro- 
duced, it  will  always  be  found,  on  investigation,  that  in  a  given 
volume  such  compressed  air  will  give  forth  a  greater  quantity 
of  the  fire-supporting  element,  L  e.,  oxygen.  So  self-evidently 
true  is  this  rule,  that  its  utterance  is  but  the  announcement  of 
a  more  truism.  But  the  reader  must  bear  in  mind,  that  these 
reasonings  and  announcements  were  recorded  at  a  period  when 
air  was  universally  believed  to  be  a  simple  body,  and  when  the 
utterance  of  this  truism  would  be  regarded  as  a  palpable 
absurdity." 

Mr.  Beswick  corroborates  this  theory  by  eminent  authorities, 
such  as  Humboldt,  Liebig,  etc.,  and  then  continues : — 

"  Wherever  we  apply  this  beautiful  and  simple  theory,  we 
shall  have  fresh  cause  for  admiration  of  the  genius  which 
could  elaborate  such  views  of  the  laws  and  constitution  of  the 
universe  in  which  we  live,  move,  and  have  our  being.  The 
wonder  is,  how  his  conceptions  could  be  so  complete,  and  so 
true  to  the  natural  principia  of  things,  whilst  no  experiments 
existed  to  guide  the  conception." 

Mr.  Beswick,  then,  gives  the  following  resume  of  his  inves- 
tigations with  regard  to  the  discovery  of  the  compound  nature 
of  atmospheric  air:  "The  Miscellaneous  Observations  were 
published  in  1722,  and  contain  the  same  theory  of  fire  and 
of  air-particles  as  the  Principia,  which  was  subsequently  pub- 
lished in  1733-4.  Black  and  Cavendish,  in  1766,  were  the 
first  to  proclaim  the  conjecture  that  air  is  a  compound  body. 
Up  to  this  period  it  was  believed  to  be  a  simple  elemental 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


267 


body.  But  they  had  no  idea,  neither  did  they  offer  a  con- 
jecture, of  the  number  and  nature  of  its  elements.  To 
Priestly  in  1772-4,  Scheele  in  1774-5,  Lavoisier  and  Tru- 
daine  In  1775,  and  Cavendish  in  1784,  we  are  indebted  for 
the  first  announcement  of  the  number  of  its  constituents,  and 
their  nature.  Now,  before  all  these,  in  1722,  Swedenborg, 
as  we  have  seen,  in  his  Miscellaneous  Observations,  and  again 
in  1733-4,  in  his  Principia,  propounded  a  most  admirable 
theory  of  the  nature  and  composition  of  atmospheric  air; 
wherein  he  unmistakably  pronounces,  and  pictorially  repre- 
sents, its  binary  composition;  and  wherein  he  describes  in 
detail,  and  in  the  most  explicit  language,  the  antagonistic 
nature  of  the  binary  elements,  and  announces  in  plain  terms, 
as  well  as  by  implication,  the  now  well-known  fact,  that  the 
least  in  volume  of  these  binary  elements  of  air  is  the  fire-feeding 
element,  now  known  under  the  name  of  oxygen.  The  priority 
of  claim  to  this  remarkable  discovery  is  without  doubt  to  be 
awarded  to  SwedenhorgJ'— Intellectual  Repository^  for  1850, 
pp.  288-301,  and  pp.  367-376.* 


*  We  have  inserted  Mr.  Beswick's  argument  in  full  as  he  gives  it  in 
the  Intellectual  Repository,  taking  the  liberty,  however,  of  condensing 
it,  and  changing  its  order.  We  do  not  wish  it,  however,  to  be  under- 
stood  that  we  endorse  all  his  views. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  identity  of  Swedenborg's  fifth 
finites  with  oxygen,  and  of  his  having  recognized  the  air,  and  also 
water,  as  compound  bodies.  But  the  identity  of  nitrogen  with  Sweden- 
borg's first  and  second  elementaries  seems  extremely  doubtful.  The 
first  and  second  elementaries  of  Swedenborg  are  the  vortical  and  mag- 
netic elements,  and  as  such  penetrate  all  fixed  material  substances, 
including  metals  and  glass,  while  nitrogen  is  so  coarse  a  body  that  it 
can  easily  be  enclosed  in  metallic  bodies  or  vessels  of  glass.  Nitrogen 
seems  to  have  considerable  to  do  with  the  effluvia  in  nature,  and  to  be 
the  common  chemical  expression  of  a  great  number  of  them ;  it  is 
possible  also  that  the  first  and  second  elementaries  combine  with  these 
effluvia  and  represent  nitrogen,  in  which  state  they  may  again  combine 
with  oxygen  so  as  to  constitute  the  common  atmospheric  air.  Sweden- 
borg's own  statements  about  nitre  in  the  "Principles  of  Chemistry," 
seem  to  corroborate  this  view.  Still  all  of  this  is  as  yet  mere  conjec- 
ture ;  that  much,  however,  is  certain,  that  the  places  of  nitrogen, 
hydrogen  and  carbon  in  Swedenborg's  system  are  still  undetermmed, 


268 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


5.  The  Composite  Nature  of  Water. 


Mr.  Beswick  says : — "  Pure  water,  as  it  comes  from  the 
chemist's  still,  is  a  colorless  liquid,  having  neither  scent  nor 
taste.  Its  binary  composition  is  uniformly  designated  the 
grand  discovery  of  modern  chemistry.  No  wonder,  then,  that 
the  honors  thereof  have  been  warmly  contested ;  the  rival 
claimants  being  Watt,  Cavendish  and  Lavoisier.  The  severity 
of  this  rivalry  sprung  out  of  the  fact,  that  each  claimant  pro- 
fessed to  have  made  the  discovery  about  the  same  time,  during 

the  years  1783-4 No  claimant  has  ever  come 

forward,  nor  has  ever  been  found  to  have  even  suggested  the 
composite  nature  of  the  aqueous  element,  water,  prior  to  the 
year  1783.  We  can  therefore  by  no  means  regard  it  as  over- 
sanguine  to  affirm,  that  there  is  no  rival  claimant  that  can 
come  forward,  or  be  put  forth  by  others,  to  dispute  the  honor 
of  first  announcing  this  great  modern  discovery,  with  Emanuel 
SwEDENBORG.  To  him  belongs  the  indisputable  merit  of  pre- 
senting the  first  suggestion  as  well  as  the  first  exposition  of 
the  composite  nature  of  the  aqueous  envelope.  But  to  place 
this  case  clearly  before  the  reader,  we  shall  formally  present 
it  under  several  heads.  For  him  we  claim  the  important 
theoretical  discovery  and  the  first  published  announcement  of 
the  following  important  fundamental  facts ; — 

"  Fundamental  Fads, 

*'  a.  Pure  water  is  a  compound  substance. 

"  6.  Its  two  constituents  are  equal  in  volume  when  forming 
water. 

"  c.  The  atomic  weight  of  the  elements  being  =  9. 

"  d.  One  of  its  elements  is  a  constituent  of  both  air  and 
water. 


but  we  have  no  doubt  in  our  own  mind  that  a  more  thorough  and  pro- 
found study  of  the  "  Principia,"  and  the  "  Principles  of  Chemistry,'* 
will  enable  us  to  identify  them  with  some  of  Swedenborg's  elementary 
bodies. 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


269 


"  e.  Water,  like  air,  is  capable  of  decomposition,  and  of 
becoming  a  constituent  of  all  compound  substances. 

"  We  might  have  enumerated  other  particulars,  but  since 
they  are  only  partially  admitted  in  the  scientific  world,  we 
have  thought  it  best  to  omit  their  enumeration." 

"  Proof  of  the  above  Fundamental  Facts, 

"  No  ingenuity  could  guess,  a  priori,  that  water  is  a  com- 
pound body,  much  less  that  it  is  composed  of  two  gases, 
oxygen  and  hydrogen."  —  Turner's  Elements  of  Chemistry, 
page  170. 

a.  "  Pure  Water  is  a  Compound  Substance. — Upon  read- 
ing the  above,  the  uninitiated  will  be  inclined  to  inquire — Why 
could  '  no  ingenuity  guess  it  a  priori  *  ?  Had  this  eminent 
writer  been  questioned  personally,  he  would  no  doubt  have 
replied  in  these  words — ^Because  oxygen  is  an  eminent  supporter 
of  combustion,  and  hydrogen  is  eminently  combustible,  yet 
oxygen  and  hydrogen  form  together  the  compound  substance, 
water,  which  is  eminently  useful  in  putting  an  end  to  com- 
bustion.    Hence  the  very  plausible  remark, — 

"  '  That  no  ingenuity  could  guess  a  priori,  that  water  is  a 
compound  body,'  etc. 

"  Notwithstanding  the  general  truthfulness  of  this  sentence, 
there  are  some  individuals  who  seem  to  be  inclined  to  believe 
that  Swedenborg  guessed  a  priori  some  of  the  theoretical 
announcements  claimed  for  him.  We  are  somewhat  curious 
to  know,  if  this  theoretical  announcement  in  the  Principia, 
Part  III.,  was  a  guess  of  this  kind : 

"  '  That  a  particle  of  water  is  similar  to  a  compressed  particle 
of  air  (also  a  compound),  in  which  there  remains  nothing 
elementary.' — Chap,  ix.,  n.  1. 

"  '  The  enclosed  elementaries  are  consumed  in  compounding 
the  particle,  and  the  consequence  is,  that  the  particle  cannot  be 
called  elementary.' — Ibid, 

"  This  announcement  was  published,  and  sent  to  some  of 
the  first  institutions  in  Europe  about  sixty-three  years  prior  to 
Watt's  suggestion,  and  two  years  before  he  was  born.  It  was, 
therefore,  published  and  circulated  at  a  time  when  every  one 
believed  in  the  elemental  simplicity  of  water.     Surely  this 

23* 


270 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


was  something  more  than  simply  a  lucky  reflection  of  the 
truth,  a  mere  guessing  a  'priori.  We  who  have  read  and 
studied  the  groundwork  of  the  opinion  thus  anticipatively 
formed,  know  for  a  certainty,  that  the  contrary  is  the  truth. 
To  all  such  asserters  we  would  respectfully  recommend  the 
contents  of  this  article  to  their  calm  and  steady  consideration. 
But  to  proceed.  It  is  only  recently  that  the  compressibility 
of  water  has  been  proved.  The  celebrated  experiment  of  the 
Florentine  Academicians  seemed  to  prove  that  water  was 
compressible  to  a  slight  extent;  but  this  matter  has  been 
placed  beyond  all  doubt  by  the  excellent  researches  of  Pro- 
fessor Oersted  and  of  Mr.  Perkins:  for  by  a  pressure  of 
two  thousand  atmospheres  Mr.  Perkins  reduced  a  mass  of 
water  to  eight-ninths  of  its  original  volume.  Water  is,  there- 
fore, a  compressible  fluid.  This  will  enable  us  to  confirm  the 
thesis  of  the  following  quotation  from  the  Principia : — 

" '  That  a  particle  of  water  is  similar  to  a  compressed  particle 
of  air,  in  which  there  remains  nothing  elementary,  yielding, 
and  elastic,  but  something  hard,  consisting  of  contiguous 
spherules  formed  within  another  larger  sphere.     .     .    .     That 

water,  consequently,  is  not  an  elementary  particle 

The  enclosed  "  elementaries "  are  consumed  in  compounding 
the  particle.' — Part  III.,  chap,  ix.,  n.  1. 

"  ^  So  considerable  a  portion  of  its  extremely  large  surface  is 
pressed  inwards,  as  to  be  received  by  the  enclosed  "  eleraen- 
taries"  and  formed  into  new  spherules  or  particles,  which 
gradually  throng  the  particle  (within)  and  render  it  hard  and 
resisting,  thus  urging  and  keeping  it,  in  the  ratio  of  its  weight, 
near  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  figure  of  the  particle  may 
be  seen  in  Fig.  110.' — I  hid, 

b.  "  Its  two  Constituents  are  equal  in  Volume  when 
FORMING  Water. — In  agreement  with  the  law  of  condensation, 
water  consists  of  two  equal  volumes  of  the  vapor  of  two  gases. 
The  scientific  world  has  ventured  to  broach  an  hypothesis  of 
the  cause  of  this  striking  phenomenon,  which  though  allied  to 
the  one  given  above  by  Swedenborg,  is  as  yet  unworthy  even 
of  comparison  therewith.  According  to  his  theory,  the  '  fifth 
finites'  or  oxygen,  like  as  with  the  air  particle  so  also  with  the 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


271 


aqueous,  occupy  the  surface  and  form  the  crust  of  the  particle, 
having  the  other  constituent  within. 

"  '  The  particles  of  water  belong  to  the  sixth  kind  of  hard 
particles  ....  that  on  its  surface  there  are  crustals  of 
the  fifth  kind.'— Part  IX.,  n.  1. 

"  The  above  was  given  in  1721  in  his  Principles  of  Chemistry, 
That  the  two  volumes  constituting  a  water  particle  are  equal 
according  to  this  theory  is  expressly  affirmed,  though  for  the 
sake  of  convenience  in  illustration,  the  internal  space  of  a 
particle  is  spoken  of  as  a  cavity,  as  in  the  following  quotation 
from  this  work  : — 

"  '  As  in  Plate  II.,  Fig.  1,  where  it  may  be  seen ; — 

"  '  1.   That  a  particle  of  water  is  round. 

"  '  2.  That  on  its  surface  there  are  crustals  of  the  fifth  kind 
(oxygen). 

'"3.  In  the  middle  of  the  particle  of  water  there  is  a  cavity, 
the  space  in  which  is  equal  to  the  space  of  its  crustals,  or  of 
its  superficial  parts.* — Part  IX.,  n.  1. 

"  '  According  to  the  theory  of  water,  n.  1,  the  internal  cavity 
of  the  particle  is  half  of  the  space.' — N.  4. 

"  .  .  .  .  The  manner  in  which  Swedenborg  proves  that 
the  two  volumes  of  matter  entering  into  the  composition  of  a 
water  particle  are  equal,  is  as  follows : — 

"  '  If  the  internal  cavity  be  equal  to  the  space  which  the 
crustals  occupy,  and  the  diameter  of  the  (whole  water)  par- 
ticle be  10,  it  follows  that  the  diameter  of  the  cavity  will  be 
very  nearly  8 ;  for  8  x  8  x  8  =  512 ;  and  10  x  10  x  10  = 
1000.'— N.  1. 

"  In  this  computation  512  represents  the  volume  of  the 
internal  space,  and  1000  the  space  of  the  whole  particle; 
hence  500  +  500  =  1000,  or  the  volume  of  the  internal 
space  +  the  volume  of  the  external  space  =  the  whole  space 
of  the  particle.  Thus  Swedenborg  proves  himself  to  have 
formed  a  conception  of  the  compound  nature  of  water,  its 
twofold  composition,  the  equality  of  the  volumes  constituting 
it,  the  identity  of  one  of  its  elements  with  one  of  the  elements 
of  air,  and  other  particulars  which  we  cannot  now  enu- 
merate." f 

c.    "2%e   atomic  weight  of  water  =  9.     The  proportions 


272  swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 

necessary  for  forming  water  in  100  parts  of  its  constituents, 
are  as  follows  : — 

By  weight.  By  measure. 

Oxygen 88.9  or  8    .    .    33.34  or  1  volume. 

Hydrogen H.l  or  1    .     .    66.GG  or  2        " 

Mixed 100.0       9     .    .  100.00        3        " 

Combined  forming  water     100.0        9     .     .     GC.G6        2        " 

"Hence  the  gases,  when  combined  to  form  water,  are 
reduced  to  the  original  bulk  of  hydrogen,  the  entire  bulk  of 
oxygen  having  completely  disappeared.  It  will  make  no 
diiference  in  the  present  computation,  whether  we  infer  that 
the  oxygen  has  absorbed  the  otlier  gas,  or  one-half  the  bulk 
of  hydrogen  has  absorbed  the  oxygen.  Of  this  we  are  certain, 
the  whole  bulk  of  oxygen  has  disappeared  to  such  a  degree  of 
nicety,  that  the  exact  bulk  of  hydrogen  is  never  in  the  least 
disturbed  during  the  combination;  the  original  bulk  of  the 
hydrogen  being  GG.GO  before  combination,  whilst  the  bulk  of 
the  resultant  mass  after  combination  is  also  exactly  66.66. 
In  agreement  with  this  fact  of  disappearance  Swedenborg 
says,  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Principia, — 

"  '  The  enclosed  "  elementaries"  are  consumed  in  compound- 
ing the  particle  of  water.' — Part  III.,  chap,  ix.,  n.  1. 

"  '  So  considerable  a  portion  of  its  extremely  large  surface  is 
pressed  inwards  as  to  be  received  by  the  enclosed  "  elemen- 
taries.* " — Ihicl. 

"  It  may  be  seen  from  the  above  table,  and  indeed  is  now 
generally  admitted,  that  water  is  constituted  of  precisely  two 
volumes  of  hydrogen  combined  with  one  volume  of  oxygen,  or 
by  weight  eight  out  of  nine  parts  are  oxygen,  and  the  remaining 
part  is  hydrogen  ;  or,  according  to  the  atomic  theory,  of  one 
atom  of  each  of  these  elements.  The  atom  of  water,  therefore, 
upon  the  hydrogen  scale  is  =  9.  This  is  the  identical  number 
given  by  Swedenborg  in  1721,  in  his  'Principles  of  Chemistry,* 
as  the  equivalent  of  water ;  it  was  certainly  given  at  a  time 
when  water  was  believed  a  simple  uncompounded  substance, 
and  about  sixty-three  years  before  the  atomic  weight  of  water 
MRS  known  to  be  represented  in  the  scale  of  atomic  weights 
by  the  number  9.     We  are  prepared  to  combat  the  idea  that 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


273 


this  equivalent  was  assumed  by  him  as  a  random  but  lucky 
guess,  a  priori.  By  a  process  of  reasoning,  the  entirety  of 
which  we  cannot  pretend  to  enumerate,  but  which  may  be 
found  in  the  above-named  work,  he  arrived  at  the  important 
conclusion  that  the  equivalent  of  a  particle  of  water  =  9. 
There  would  be  no  paucity  of  means  to  arrive  at  this  result, 
according  to  the  line  of  investigation  evidently  adopted  by 
him,  and  inversely  introduced  in  his  work  on  Chemistry. 
There  would  be  no  end  to  the  instances  inviting  him  to  the 
adoption  of  this  equivalent  for  water.  Indeed,  the  line  of 
investigation  is  so  peculiar,  so  strictly  founded  upon  geometri- 
cal data,  that  we  cannot  really  detect  the  slightest  possibility 
of  his  adoption  of  any  other  equivalent.  We  will  enter  into  a 
brief  discussion  of  the  reasons  which  determined  the  adoption 
of  this  equivalent,  with  a  view  to  set  at  rest  the  idea  of 
guessing. 

"The  hydrogen  scale  has  this  substance  as  the  basis  of 
measurement,  because  it  is  the  lightest  of  all  known  sub- 
stances. Its  equivalent  is  therefore  1.  Since  the  proportional 
numbers  merely  express  the  relative  quantities  of  different 
substances  which  combine  together,  it  is  in  itself  immaterial 
what  figures  are  employed  to  express  them.  The  only  essen- 
tial point  is,  that  the  relation  should  be  strictly  observed. 
Different  chemists  have  adopted  a  series  of  their  own,  which 
was  considered  by  them  as  more  simple  than  any  other.  For 
example.  Dr.  Thomson  makes  oxygen  1  as  the  basis  of  his 
series.  Dr.  WoUaston  fixes  oxygen  at  10.  The  celebrated 
Berzelius  has  oxygen  at  100.  Whilst  several  other  chemists, 
as  Dalton,  Davy,  Turner,  Henry,  and  others,  have  oxygen  at 
8  ;  consequently  hydrogen  will  be  given  in  this  scale  at  1. 
Any  one  of  these  scales  may  easily  be  reduced  to  the  others 
by  an  obvious  increase  or  diminution  of  the  corresponding 
equivalents,  as  the  case  may  be. 

"Now  in  Part  IX.,  n.  4,  Principles  of  Chemistry,  where 
Swedenborg  first  gives  his  weight  of  the  water  particle,  he 
assumes  the  volume  of  fifth  finites,  or  oxygen  =  1,  which  is 
the  same  as  Dr.  Thomson's  scale  of  equivalents.  This  volume 
he  regards  as  occupying  half  the  space  of  the  particle  of 
water.     Hence  he  says, — 


274 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


"  '  Let  the  matter  in  the  particle  of  water  =  1.' 
"  '  The  internal  cavity  is  half  of  the  space.' 
"Swedenborg    must    certainly   be    considered    as  having 
adopted  a  similar  scale  to  that  of  Dr.  Thomson,  in  which 
oxygen  =  1,  for  we  have  already,  in  a  former  article,  proved 
the  identity  of  his  '  fifth  finites '  with  oxygen  ;  but  the  reason 
which  induced  him  to  adopt  the  ratio  or  scale  now  in  general 
use,  first  suggested  by  Dalton,  we  will  endeavor  to  explain. 
In  this  section  Swedenborg  is  attempting  to  estimate  the  com- 
parative weights  of  a  water  particle  and  the  saline  particles 
filling  the  interstitial  spaces  of  water.     He  there  develops  a 
statement,  involving  his  method  of  investigation,  his  scale  of 
equivalents,  and  the  ground-work  of  the  whole  superstructure 
of  his  Principles  of  Chemistry,     If  the  reader  can  only  master 
this   paragraph,  he   may  go  steadily  along  with  its  author 
through  the  entire  work,  without  much  difiiculty  and  doubt. 

'''X)emonstraf low.— Let  the  matter  (fifth  finites  or  oxygen) 
in  the  particle  of  water  =  1.  According  to  the  theory  of 
water,  n.  1,  the  internal  cavity  of  the  particle  is  half  of  the 
space  ;  consequently  if  it  be  filled  with  the  same  matter  (or  the 
whole'particle  be  oxygen),  the  weight  of  the  particle  will  =  2. 
Since  then  the  weights  are  as  the  spaces,  viz.,  3  :  1  ::  2  :  §, 
the  weight  of  the  interstitial  matter,  compared  with  the  weight 
of  a  particle  of  water  assumed  as  equal  to  1,  will  be  as  |  to 

1,  or  as  2  to  3. 

"  '  If,  again,  the  more  subtle  hard  matter  of  the  fourth  kind 
(or  atoms  of  a  particle  of  oxygen)  insinuate  itself  into  the 
interstices  of  this  matter,  I  maintain  that  this  interstitial  sub- 
stance, or  one  cube  with  two  triangles,  will  then  weigh  to  a 
particle  of  water  as  10  to  9. 

"  '  Demonstration, — Let  the  aforesaid  matter  be  as  2  to  3  ; 
also,  let  the  internal  cavities  of  each  of  these  particles  (called 
"  fifth  finites  "  or  oxygen)  occupying  half  the  space,  like  the 
cavity  in  the  particle  of  water,  be  filled  up ;  in  which  case  the 
weight  will  be  double  the  foregoing,  or  as  4  to  3.  Now,  since 
the  ratio  of  the  weights  is  according  to  the  ratio  of  the  spaces, 
it  will  be  as  3  :  1  : :  4  :  J ;  to  which,  if  the  2  be  added,  it 
becomes  2  +  ^  =  V'  ^^^  *^"®  ^^®°  compared  with  the  weight 
of  the  particle  of  water,  taken  as  3,  it  will  be,  -^3^  is  to  3  as 
10  is  to  9.' 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


275 


*'  Now,  is  it  not  evident,  that  Swedenborg's  adoption  of  9 
as  an  equivalent  for  water,  in  the  scale  of  atomic  weights, 
originates  in  a  numerical  necessity  ?      Strictly  speakinjij,  the 
number  was  not  selected,  but  forced  upon  his  adoption.     It 
took  up  the  position  in  his  scale,  as  an  equivalent  of  water, 
irrespective  of  everything  but  arithmetical  necessity.     Con- 
jecture and  lucky  guessing  can  lay  no  claim  to  the  discovery 
of  this  important  theoretical  principle  in  Swedenborg's  system 
of  chemistry — they  can  claim  no  familiar  acquaintanceship 
with  geometrical  proportions,  nor  take  any  part  in  the  practi- 
cal developments  of  the  golden  rule  of  three.     The  above 
quotation  is  called  by  the  author  a  '  demonstration ; '  and  it  is 
truly  such.     For  in   this  demonstration,  the  volume  of  the 
*  fifth  finites '  or  oxygen,  occupying  only  half  the  space  in  a 
water  particle,  is  taken  as  the  basis  of  his  computation :  and 
after  a  series  of  reasonings — too  obviously  true  to  be  doubted 
— is  induced  to  adopt  the  result,  that,  when  the  interstitial 
spaces  between  particles  of  water  are  filled  up  with  particles 
of  oxygen  and  the  smaller  atoms  of  which  the  former  are 
compounded,  then  this  solid  interstitial  substance  will  weigh 
to  a  particle  of  water  as  -^3^  is  to  §,  or  as  10  is  to  9  ;  hence  it 
is  clear,  the  only  two  whole  numbers  which  could  have  been 
adopted,  as  equivalents,  are  evidently  10  for  the  interstitial 
substance,  and  9  for  water.     Let  us  not  be  misunderstood ; 
we  do  not  say  that  no  other  numbers  could  have  been  adopted 
as  corresponding  equivalents,  for  that  would  be  asserting  what 
we  know  to  be  not  true  ;  but  we  do  say,  that  no  other  numbers 
than  9  for  water  and  10  for  salt  can  possibly  be  got  out  of  the 
computed  demonstration  given  by  Swedenborg.     These  equiva- 
lents are  therefore  assumed  by  him,  not  as  mere  conjectural 
or  even  convenient  proportions,  which  may  or  may  not  be 
subsequently   confirmed,   but   as    real    ratios,   arithmetically 
originating  in  the  geometrical  structure  of  a  water  particle, 
and  based  most  extensively  upon  experimental  demonstration. 
"  The  reason  why  the  '  elementaries '  occupying  the  interior 
of  a  particle  of  water  are  not  referred  to  and  accounted  for  in 
the  computation,  is,  because  their  density  is  too  insignificant 
to  form  an  item.     Swedenborg  says  : — 

"'The  enclosed  "elementaries"   are   consumed  in   com- 
pounding the  particle  of  water.' 


276  swedenboeg's  chemicai-  theories. 

«  This  is  obviously  correct ;  for  we  have  already  shoven  that 
this  is  equally  true  of  oxygeD  and  hydrogen  when  formjBg  or 
compounding  water.  .  •  •  As  we  proceed,  we  shall  have 
^any  opportunities  of  making  it  manifest,  that  this  equivalent 
of  water  was  extensively  confirmed  by  its  undouUed  d^scc^erer 
from  evidence  arising  out  of  extensive  experiments,  of  national 
importance  in  his  country,  and  familiarly  known  to  him  by 

reason  of  his  position." 

d  "One  of  its  elements  is  a  constituent  op  both  aik 
AND  WATER.  We  mean  the  '  fifth  finites '  or  oxygenic  particles. 
But  as  we  have  sufiiciently  proved  this  point  in  our  article  on 
Air,  and  indirectly  also  in  the  present  paper,  we  deem  it 
unnecessary  to  add  further  proof. 

e    "Water,  like  air,  is  capable  of  decomposition,  and 

OF   BECOMING  A  constituent    OF    ALL   COMPOUND    SUBSTANCES. 

This  truth  was  announced  as  a  principium  by  Swedenborg, 

half  a  century  before  its  acknowledged  discovery 

He  savs  in  his  Prindpia,  Part  III.,  chap.  ix. :— 

«  '  We  cannot  consider  the  aqueous  particle  as  any  other  than 
a  certain  hard  body  rendered  fluid  by  an  extremely  small 

deoree  of  heat.' — n.  2.  .    .,       .      ^v   *     r  „ 

"'The  aqueous  volume  is  perfectly  similar  to   that  of  a 

mineral  of  any  kind  melted  into  a  volume  or  liquid,  -n.  4. 
».     .     .     With  regard  to  its  dissolution  and  union  with 

other  substances,  he  sa°ys  in  the  same  place,— 

" '  Innumerable,  therefore,  would  be  our  remarks  on  the 

subject  of  water,  were  we  to  enter  into  all  its  phenomena. 

We  should  have  to  show,  for  instance,  in  what  manner  and  by 

^hat  causes  the  connections  of  its  particles  could  be  resolved ; 

Tn  what  manner,  after  the  dissolution,  the  enclosed  sph  rules 
occupied  the  interstices  between  other  and  aqueous  part  cles , 
in  what  manner  were  hence  originated  new  terrestrial  and 
saline  parts;  what  were  the  figures  of  these  parts,  and  their 
mSonfbet'ween  the  aqueous  particles ;  in  what  manner  these 
mrticles  convey  them  through  the  fibres,  stems,  and  pores 
rvegetaUes ;  how  it  is  they  dispose  them  into  the  vegetable 

^Tiiott'of  these   particulars  have  been   explained  in  his 
Prindpks  of  Chemistry,  and  have  a  charm  of  such  genmne 


swedenborg's  chemical  theories. 


277 


simplicity  about  them,  that  we  shall  delight  ourselves  in  some 
of  our  subsequent  articles  by  captivating  the  reader's  attention 
with  their  exposition  and  illustration,  by  a  variety  of  interest- 
ing and  familiar  phenomena.  In  Swedenborg's  day  the  above 
particulars  would  appear  anomalous ;  and,  however  beautiful 
and  true  they  may  now  seem,  they  would  then  be  silently 
regarded  as  being  both  learned,  ingenious,  and  ridiculous. 
What  would  be  more  absurd  than  to  proclaim  the  dissolution 
of  an  elemental  substance  into  its  parts  ?  Or  that  water,  by 
dissolution,  forms  salt,  and  becomes  a  part  of  the  hard  solid 
rock,  or  a  part  of  the  earth's  minerals,  vegetables,  and  animals  ? 
Yet  nothing  is  mote  true,  than  that  such  is  the  case. 


... 


»» * 


*  The  same  remark  that  we  made  at  the  close  of  the  last  article,  we 
have  to  repeat  here,  viz.,  that  we  do  not  consider  Mr.  Beswick's  argu- 
ments as  exhausting  the  subject.  The  same  elementaries  that  Mr. 
Beswick,  in  the  case  of  the  air,  called  nitrogen,  figure  again  in  Sweden- 
borg's  theory  of  the  water,  and  Mr.  Beswick  allows  us  now  to  infer 
that  they  are  identical  with,  or  form,  hydrogen.  There  may  be  a  con- 
nection between  nitrogen,  hydrogen,  and  Swedenborg's  elementaries, 
but  there  is  quite  a  hiatus  between  the  elementaries  composing  the 
vortical  and  magnetic  elements,  and  the  chemical  bodies  of  hydrogen 
and  nitrogen,  which  hiatus  Mr.  Beswick  has  not  yet  accounted  for. 
From  the  fact  that  both  gases,  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  are  capable  of 
assuming  the  solid  shape,  as  in  water,  and  again  of  expanding  in  the 
gaseous  state,  it  seems  as  if  both  were  finites  capable  of  being  expanded 
by  elementaries  into  the  gaseous  state,  and  by  the  withdrawal  of  these 
elementaries,  of  being  compressed  into  the  solid  state.  The  identity 
of  Swedenborg's  fifth  finites  with  oxygen,  however,  we  think  Mr.  Bes- 
wick has  confirmed  by  his  article  on  water,  also  the  fact  that  both  the 
air  and  water  are  compound  bodies. 

24 


swedenborg's  magnetic  theories. 


279 


IV. 


SWEDENBORG'S  MAGNETIC   THEORIES. 
1.  The  Law  of  Magnetic  Intensity. 

Of  aU  the  laws  of  magnetism,  that  of  its  intensity  increasing 
towards  the  poles  is,  on  account  of  the  practical  uses  of  the 
ma-netic  needle  in  navigation,  unquestionably  the  most  im- 
portant.    The  very  existence  of  its  variation  was   scarcely 
known  in  the  scientific  world  till  the  time  of  Humboldt,  who 
was  the  first  to  bring  it  into  notice  ;  on  which  subject  he  says,  in 
his  Relation  Historique  (p.  615)  :   "The  observations  on  the 
variation  of  terrestrial  magnetism,  to  which  I  have  devoted 
myself  for  thirty-two  years,  by  means  of  instruments  which 
admit  of  comparison  with  one  another,  in  America,  Europe 
and  Asia,  embrace  an  area  extending  over  188  degrees  of 
lon-itude,  from  the  frontier  of  Chinese  Dzoungarie  to  the  west 
of  The  South  Sea,  bathing  the  coasts  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  and 
reachincr  from  60°  north  latitude  to  12°  south  latitude.     I 
regard  'the  discovery  of  the  law  of  the  decrement  of  the  mag- 
netic  force  from  the  pole  to  the  equator,  as  the  most  important 
result  of  my  American  voyage."  ,.  .     .    , 

In  a  note  to  Cosmos,  Vol.  I.,  p.  179  (Bohn's  edition),  he 
adds :  "  The  first  recognition  of  the  law  belongs,  beyond  all 
question,  to  Lamanon,  the  companion  of  La  Perouse  (1787)  ; 
but  long  disregarded  or  forgotten,  the  knowledge  of  the  law, 
that  the  intensity  of  the  magnetic  force  of  the  earth  varied 
with  the  latitude,  did  not,  I  conceive,  acquire  an  existence  in 
science  until  the  publication  of  my  observations  from  1798  to 

"  Now,"  Mr.  Beswick  observes,  "  the  pubhcation  ol  the 
very  same  law,  announced  in  nearly  the  same  terms,  took 
place  in  Swedenborg's  Principia  in  1733,  being  sixty-five  years 

(278) 


in  priority  of  publication,  thirty-six  years  before  Humboldt 
was  born,  and  fifty-two  years  before  the  time  of  La  Perouse's 
expedition,  which  was  commenced  in  1785.  But  let  the  reader 
judge  for  himself.  The  following  is  Humboldt's  announce- 
ment of  this  law  : — 

"  '  That  the  intensity  of  the  magnetic  force  of  the  earth  varied 
with  the  latitude.' — Cosmos,  Vol.  L,  p.  180,  note. 

"  '  The  law  of  the  decrement  of  magnetic  force  from  the  pole 
to  the  equator.' — p.  180. 

" '  The  law  that  the  intensity  of  the  force  increases  (in 
general)  with  the  magnetic  latitude.' — p.  179. 

"  '  The  intensity  of  the  total  force  increases  from  the  equator 
towards  the  pole.' — p.  179. 

"  Here  also  is  Swedenborg's  announcement : — 

"  '  There  is,  therefore,  an  action  upon  the  particles  of  this 
element,  according  to  the  arcs  in  distances  from  the  poles.' — 
Principia,  Part  II. ,  chap,  xv.,  n.  8. 

"  '  The  force  is  according  to  the  arc  of  distance  from  the 
poles.* — Ihid, 

" '  The  pressure  at  a  less  distance  from  the  pole  must  be 
different  from  the  pressure  at  a  greater  distance,  and  vice 

versa,* — Ibid. 

"  '  The  magnetic  element  exercises  a  pressure  according  to 
its  altitude ;  that  its  altitude  is  to  be  estimated  in  the  direction 
from  one  pole  to  the  other.' — Ibid, 

"Indeed,  this  force  formed  one  of  the  data  by  which 
Swedenborg  endeavored  to  compute  the  declination  at  several 
places  for  different  years.  Hence  he  remarks.  Part  II.,  chap. 
XV.,  n.  4 : — '  Nevertheless  this  force,  small  as  it  is,  must  be 
taken  into  consideration  ;  for  without  it,  we  shall  by  no  means 
be  enabled  to  arrive  at  the  true  knowledge  of  the  declination.' 
Though  it  must  be  admitted,  that  his  estimation  of  this  force 
for  different  latitudes  was  erroneous ;  yet  this  will  not  alter  the 
fact,  nor  detract  from  the  merit,  of  his  having  obtained  a 
knowledge  of  the  general  law  of  the  variation  of  the  horizontal 
force  all  over  the  earth." — Intellectual  Repository  for  1849, 
pp.  220-223. 


i 


1 


280 


SWEDENBORG*S   MAGNETIC  THEORIES. 


2.    Mean  Latitudinal  Positions  of  the  two  Magnetic 

Poles  and  Equator. 
"  The  first  iudividual,"  says  Mr.  Beswick,  "  who  appears  to 
have  instituted  a  series  of  consecutive  magnetic  experiments, 
with  a  view  to  ascertain  whether  the  same  needle  varied  its 
dip  in  different  latitudes,  was  an  English  navigator  of  the 
seventeenth  century.     The  experiments  are  inserted  in  Phil. 
Transactions,  n.  117.     They  were  Avritten  by  a  navigator  in 
1684,  who  crossed  the  equator  to  a  latitude  of  35°  25'  south. 
But  the  experiments  led  to  no  theoretical  results.     Although 
he  discovered  that  the  force  of  each  magnetic  pole  was  com- 
monly in  equilibrio  from  a  south  latitude  of  0°  52'  to  8°  17', 
which  was  indicative  of  his  position    as  being  then  on  the 
magnetic  equator,  yet  this  idea  never  occurred  to  him  ;  and  it 
was  not  until  the  close  of  another  century  (Swedenborg  ex- 
cepted) that  it  was  observed  that  the  geographical  and  magnetic 
equators  were  not  identical.     Muscheubroek,  in  his  Experi- 
mental and  Geometrical  Physics,  says  of  this  navigator,  '  I  have 
never  met  with  any  other  person  who  has  instituted  similar 
experiments.'    All  investigations  of  the  magnetic  dip,  by  which 
the  position  of  the  magnetic  equator  is  ascertained,  began, 
properly  speaking,  with  Graham,  in  1720.     But  no  one  up  to 
the  time  of  Cook  and  Fourneaux,  in  1773-77,  Lamanon  and 
Perouse,  in  1785,  Rossel,  in  1791-94,  and  of  Humboldt  and 
Bonpland,  from  1798  to  1804,  even  ventured  an  opinion.* 

"  Swedenborg  was  the  first  who  announced,  not  only  their 
non-identity,  but  also  the  mean  latitudinal  position  of  the 
magnetic  equator.  During  his  day,  and  even  until  the  close 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  it  was  believed  that  the  position  of 
the  two  equators  was  identical.  Humboldt,  speaking  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  at  the  close  of  which  (1688)  Swedenborg 
was  born,  says  Cosmos,  Vol.  II.,  p.  718  : — 

"  '  The  position  of  the  magnetic  equator,  which  was  believed 

*  See  Duperrey,  On  the  Configuration  of  the  Magnetic  Equator  in 
the  Annals  of  Time,  t.  45,  pp.  371,  379 ;  also  Morlet,  in  the  Memoirs 
of  different  Savans  of  the  Roy.  Acad,  of  Sciences,  t.  iii.,  p.  132;  also 
Sabine's  Contributions  to  Terrestrial  Magnetism,  1825,  1837,  1840-41, 
and  part  2,  1849,  in  the  Fhil.  Transactions. . 


swedenborg's  magnetic  theories. 


281 


to  be  identical  with  the  geographical  equator,  remained  un- 
investigated. Observations  were  only  carried  on  in  a  few  of 
the  capital  cities  of  western  and  southern  Europe.' 

"  And  it  was  not  until  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century 
that  this  fallacy  was  removed.  Hence  the  same  writer  ob- 
serves. Cosmos,  Vol.  I.,  p.  176  : — 

" '  The  position  of  this  line,  and  its  secular  change  of  con- 
figuration, have  been  made  an  object  of  careful  investigation 
in  modern  times.* 

"  Yet  Swedenborg,  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury (1734),  afiirmed  this  fact  of  non-identity,  by  assuming 
as  one  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  his  theory,  that  the 
magnetic  poles  follow  the  mean  latitudinal  position  of  the 
poles  of  the  ecliptic,  and  the  magnetic  equator  the  mean 
latitudinal  position  of  the  ecliptic.  And  in  Part  II.,  chap. 
xiv.,  n.  5,  there  is  a  beautiful  diagram,  expressly  introduced 
by  Swedenborg  as  descriptive  of  the  relative  positions  of  the 
two  equators  and  poles.  The  mean  latitudinal  positions  of 
the  magnetic  poles  and  magnetic  equator  are  stated  by  Sweden- 
borg in  the  following  extract : — 

"  '  Since,  therefore,  there  are  two  poles,  we  may  next  inquire 
what  is  the  distance  between  the  poles  of  the  earth  or  world. 
Now  they  cannot  be  the  same  with  the  poles  of  the  earth,  but 
are  the  same  with  the  poles  of  the  vortex  (or  magnetic  sphere). 
For  as  the  vortex  by  its  spiral  motion  forms  ecliptics,  so  these 
poles  (the  magnetic)  must  be  the  same  with  the  poles  of  the 
ecliptics  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  will  be  at  the  same  distance  from 
the  poles  of  the  earth  as  the  poles  of  the  ecliptic,  or  22°  30'. 
Nor  can  there  be  any  other  magnetic  poles  than  those  of  the 
ecliptics  of  the  (magnetic)  vortex  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  must  be 
poles  at  a  distance  of  22°  30'  on  each  side  from  the  poles  of  the 
earth.' — Part  II.,  chap,  xv.,  n.  3. 

"  This  extract,  coupled  w^ith  the  diagram  referred  to  above, 
will  confirm  what  we  have  stated,  that  one  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  his  theory  was  the  non-identity  of  the  magnetic 
and  terrestrial  poles  and  equators.  And  that  the  mean  lati- 
tudinal positions  of  the  magnetic  poles  and  equator  are  iden- 
tical with  those  of  the  earth's  ecliptical  poles  and  ecliptic,  will 
be  evident  to  any  one  who  will  take  the  trouble  of  tracing  the 
24* 


282 


swedenborg's  magnetic  theories. 


course  of  each.  The  position  of  the  nodes  of  the  magnetic 
equator  and  ecliptic  are  almost  identical,  as  affirmed  by  Sweden- 
borg,  and  the  nodes  of  each  have  a  backward  movement  or 
precession  in  the  same  direction,  and  is  implied  in  the  theory 
of  Swedenborg.  For  the  recent  observations  of  Sabine  {Con- 
trihutions  to  Terrestrial  Magfietism,  1840,  p.  134)  have  shown, 
that  the  magnetic  node  of  island  of  St.  Thomas  has  moved 
4°  from  east  to  west,  between  1825  and  1837,  and  the  opposite 
node  in  the  South  Sea,  near  Gilbert  Islands,  has  approached 
the  Carolinas  in  a  westerly  direction.  And  the  magnetic 
poles,  though  now  situated  in  a  higher  latitude  than  the  poles 
of  the  ecliptic,  are  nevertheless  found,  by  tracing  back  their 
course  for  the  last  three  centuries,  to  oscillate  above  and 
below  the  mean  latitudinal  positions  of  the  ecliptical  poles ; 
as  affirmed  by  this  philosopher.* 

"The  merit  of  first  propounding  the  non-identity  of  the 
magnetic  and  terrestrial  equators,  and  the  mean  latitudinal 
positions  of  the  magnetic  poles  and  equator,  belongs  unques- 
tionably to  the  Swedish  philosopher,  Emanuel  Swedenborg."— 
^'Intellectual  Repository''  for  1850,  pp.  129-131. 

3.  Southern  Magnetic  Axis  loijger  than  the  Northern. 
"  It  is  a  matter  of  singular  interest  in  the  science  of  terres- 
trial magnetism,"  says  Mr.  Beswick,  ''  that  the  southern  mag- 
netic pole  has  a  longer  axis  from  the  centre  of  the  magnetic 
equator  than  the  northern,  and  hence  occupies  a  higher  lati- 
tudinal position.     Their  positions  are  as  follows  : — 

South  Magnetic  Pole,  75°  5'  south  latitude. 

North  Magnetic  Pole,  70°  0'  north  latitude. 
"  But  even  this  fact,  which  was  not  even  suspected  before 
the  investigations  of  Professor  Hansteen,  published  in  1819,t 
who  was  the  first  among  scientific  men  to  conjecture  this  fact, 


♦  Professor  HansteerCs  observations  on  the  position  and  revolution 
of  the  magnetic  poles,  Edin.  Journal  of  Science,  Vol.  V.,  9,  p.  65; 
also  Grovel's  Memoir,  Orbital  Motion  of  the  Magnetic  Pole,  read  at 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  British  Association.  1849 ;  also  Beswick's 
Illustrations,  &c.,  Phil.  Mag.,  vol.  36,  n.  242,  p.  183. 

t  Researches  into  the  Magnetism  of  the- Earth,  Christiama,  1819. 


swedenborg's  magnetic  theories. 


283 


was  published  by  Swedenborg  nearly  a  century  (85  years) 
previous.  The  confirmation  of  this  fact  has  been  so  recent  as 
the  memorable  Antarctic  Expedition  of  Sir  James  Clarke  Ross 
(1839-43),  who  determined  empirically  the  position  of  the 
magnetic  south  pole.  When  Swedenborg  declared  this  fact 
in  1734,  the  afiirmation  was  not  conjectural,  for  it  is  expressly 
declared  to  be  the  result  of  experiment,  and  the  application  of 
theory.     It  was  announced  in  these  words  : — 

"  '  Both  from  experiment,  and  from  our  first  principles,  it  is 
evident  that  the  north  magnetic  pole  moves  round  the  north 
tellurian  pole  sooner  than  the  south  magnetic  pole  moves  round 
the  south  tellurian ;  and  this  because  the  distance  of  the  two 
from  the  centre  of  the  vortex  (magnetic  sphere)  is  not  similar.' 
— ^Part  II.,  chap,  xv.,  n.  6. 

"  And  this  suggestion  of  the  physical  cause  must  appear 
self-evidently  true  to  every  theoretical  magnetician  who  con- 
siders that  the  north  magnetic  axis,  being  shortest,  would 
perform  its  revolution  in  a  shorter  time.  The  reverse  would 
be  the  case  with  the  opposite  axis.  Swedenborg,  therefore, 
announced  this  fact  eighty-five  years  before  Professor  Hansteen 
first  conjectured  it,  and  one  hundred  and  seven  years  before  it 
was  confirmed  by  actual  observation." — ^^  Intellectual  Reposi- 
tory" iov  1850,  pp.  131,  132. 

4.  The  Revolution  of  the  North  Magnetic  Pole  speedier 
than  that  of  the  South  Magnetic  Pole. 
"  It  would  appear,  from  this  case  and  the  following,"  says 
Mr.  Beswick,  "  that  one  discovery  led  the  way  and  gave  the 
initiament  to  others,  all  forming  one  chain  of  fundamental 
facts,  dependent  upon  what  the  author  terms  his  '  experiments 
and  our  first  principles/  For,  as  stated  in  the  last  case,  it  is 
clear  that  if  two  axes,  the  northern  being  shorter  than  the 
southern,  be  moved  by  a  force  acting  equally  upon  each,  the 
shorter  or  northern  axis  will  revolve  with  greater  speed  and 
velocity  than  the  longer  or  southern  axis.  Accordingly  we 
find  that  such  is  the  case.  Although  it  was  suspected  that  the 
magnetic  poles  had  a  translatory  revolution,  yet  Swedenborg 
was  the  first  and  the  only  individual  during  the  eighteenth 
century  who  held  the  opinion  that  the  north  magnetic  pole  had 


284 


swedenborg's  magnetic  theories. 


a  much  quicker  revolution  than  the  southern.  For  from  the 
publication  of  the  Principia  to  the  time  of  Hansteen  the  idea 
was  never  broached  ;  and  this  involves  an  interval  of  eighty- 
five  years.*  The  following  are  the  words  in  which  this  tact 
was  first  announced  (Part  II.,  chap,  xv.,  n.  6)  :—     ^ 

"  '  But  both  from  experiment  and  from  our  first  pnnciples, 
it  is  evident  that  the  north  magnetic  pole  moves  round  the 
north  tellurian  pole  sooner  than  the  south  magnetic  pole  moves 
round  the  south  tellurian. 

'' '  In  the  same  theory  we  shall  have  to  demonstrate  that 
these  magnetic  poles  move  round  the  poles  of  the  earth  con- 
tinually  from  west  to  east,  but  with  uneven  progress.'         ^ 

"  And  although  he  estimates  their  relative  annual  velocities 
at  56'  for  the  north  magnetic  pole,  and  20'  for  the  southern, 
which  is  more  than  four  times  too  much  in  either  case  for  that 
epoch,  yet  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  though  the  estimate  is 
considerably  wrong,  the  theoretical  principle  involved  is  per- 
fectly  correct,  namely,  the  velocity  of  the  northern  is  about 
twice  as  great,  and  somewhat  above  that  of  the  southern.     1 
have  made  this  particular  fact  a  subject  of  proof  m  two  arti- 
cles, entitled.  Illustrations  of    a  New  Method  for  computing 
Magnetic  Declination,    on  the  Principle  proposed  hy  Professor 
Gauss  (Philosophical  Magazine,  No.  239,  vol.  35,  p.  511)  ; 
also.  Further  Illustrations,  etc.  242,  vol.  36,  p.  183). 
"  The  following  estimate  is  given  by  Prof.  Hansteen  :— 

Period  of  revolution  of  North  Magnetic  Pole    .    1890  years. 

1 1  '*'i25 
Mean  annual  motion ^^ 

Period  of  revolution  of  South  Magnetic  Pole    .    460o  years. 


Mean  annual  motion 


4-69. 


"  Now  this  ratio  is  the  same  as  given  by  Swedenborg,  as 
may  appear  from  the  following  proportion  :— 

4'  :  IP  ::  20'  :  55'; 
the  two  first  being  the  velocities  given  by  Hansteen,  and  the 
two  latter,  or  rather  20'  and  56',  being  the  velocities  given  by 
Swedenhor^r— Intellectual  Repository  for  1850,  pp.  132-133. 

o  "  The  time  of  the  publication  of  the  second  volume  of  the  Prin- 
cipia  (1734)  is  here  alluded  to." 


swedenborg's  magnetic  theories. 


285 


5.  The  Attractive  Force  of  the  South  Magnetic 
Pole  greater  than  that  of  the  North  Magnetic 
Pole. 

"  The  following,  like  the  last  case,"  Mr.  Beswick  con- 
tinues, "is  an  instance  of  forming  a  correct  conception  of 
important  fundamental  facts,  when  the  first  principles  of  a 
theory  are  grounded  in  the  nature  of  things.  Like  the  former, 
the  present  instance  depends  on  the  principle  assumed  in 
No.  3.  For,  as  a  consequence  of  the  south  magnetic  pole  having 
a  longer  axis,  and  therefore  containing  a  greater  quantity  of 
the  magnetic  element,  Swedenborg  was  compelled  to  assume, 
as  a  subordinate  principle  in  this  theory,  that  this  pole  must 
be  stronger,  and  the  more  intensely  attractive  of  the  two  mag- 
netic poles.     Hence  he  says  : — 

"  '  As  the  magnetic  element  tends  with  a  certain  tacit  cur- 
rent from  the  south  pole  to  the  north  (through  the  earth's  in- 
terior), its  force  is  greatest  at  the  south  pole,  and  becomes 
gradually  less  towards  the  north.  The  nearer  to  the  south  pole 
the  greater  is  the  force.* — Part  II.,  chap,  xvi.,  n.  5. 

"  From  the  recent  experiments  and  researches  of  Sabine, 
Ross,  Gauss,  and  others,  this  statement  has  received  a  remark- 
able confirmation.    Humboldt  says,  Cosmos,  vol.  1.,  p.  181  : — 

'"If  the  intensity  near  the  magnetic  south  pole  be  ex- 
pressed by  2.052,  Sabine  found  it  was  only  1.624  at  the  mag- 
netic north  pole.' 

"  It  would,  therefore,  appear  from  the  observations  hitherto 
collected,  that  the  attractive  force  of  the  south  magnetic  pole 
bears  the  same  ratio  to  the  attractive  force  of  the  opposite  pole 
as  1.624  is  to  2.052.  Swedenborg's  ratio  is  also  about  the 
same.  (Part  II,  chap,  xvi.,  n.  5.)  We  have  already  proved 
his  discovery  of  the  law  of  intensity,  or  its  increased  force  and 
tension  in  the  direction  of  each  pole  (our  No.  1).  Now  it 
is  somewhat  remarkable,  and  indicative  of  a  distinjmishinff 
feature  in  his  genius,  in  possessing  the  highest  order  of  anti- 
cipative  originality,  that  he  should  predict  not  only  the  law  of 
intensity — that  it  varied  all  over  the  world — ^fifty-two  years 


286 


swedenborg's  magnetic  theories. 


before  it  was  conjectured  *  ;  but  also  that  he  should  proclaim 
the  greater  intensity  of  the  southern  magnetic  pole  compared 
with  the  northern  fifly-two  years  before  a  single  experiment 
had  been  undertaken  which  could  lead  to  such  an  idea ;  and 
107  years  before  it  was  proved." — Intellectual  Rejpository  for 
1850,  p.  135-36. 

6.  Identity  of  the  Magnetic  Streams  forming  the 
Aurora,  and  those  influencing  the  Magnetic  Needle. 
Mr.  Beswick  says,  "  Humboldt  attributes,  erroneously,  the 
discovery  of  the  simultaneity  of  the  perturbations  and  influence 
of  the  magnetic  streams  (which  are  visible  even  to  the  un- 
assisted eye  during  an  auroral  display)  to  the  French  astro- 
nomer Arago.-f  For  the  simultaneity  at  distant  points  had 
already  been  suggested  and  distinctly  ascertained  by  Celsius 
and  Graham  in  1741,  whilst  residing  the  one  at  Upsala  and 
the  other  in  London.  The  identity  of  the  streams  forming 
the  earth's  magnetic  vortex,  and  those  directing  the  needle, 
was  also  clearly  established  by  the  Swedish  observers,  Celsius, 
Hiorter,  and  Wargentin,  between  1740-1750,  in  a  number 
of  special  cases,  the  details  of  which  are  recorded  in  Prof. 
Kamtz's  Meteorology  (iii.  494,  etc.,),  and  recorded,  too,  in 
tlie  very  part  of  that  work  cited  by  Humboldt  himself  in  his 
Cosmos  (vol.  1,  note,  p.  188).  They  must,  therefore,  I  should 
imagine,  have  passed  under  his  observation.  Why  he  should 
think  proper  to  pass  over  them  in  favor  of  his  personal  friend, 
the  French  royal  astronomer,  is  a  matter  we  cannot  explain. 
It  is  somewhat  remarkable  in  the  present  in- 
stance that  Swedenborg,  in  1734,  and  Celsius,  Hiorter,  and 
Wargentin,  between  1740  and  1750  J  — the  only  individuals  who 
have  a  rightful  claim  to  the  merit  of  this  discovery — should  all 
be  Swedish  philosophers,  and  living  at  the  same  time,  and  all 
alike  passed  over  ...  by  this  greatest  of  all  scientific 
travellers  and  writers  of  the  present  era. 

"  The  theory  of  Swedenborg  affirms  that  the  earth  is  en- 
veloped in  a  vortex  of  magnetic  streams,  which  give  a  direc- 

*  Cosmos,  vol.  1,  p.  179. 
t  Cosmos,  vol.  1,  p.  179. 
X  Wargentin,  and  others,  Trans,  of  the  Swedish  Academy,  vol.  15. 


swedencorg's  magnetic  theories. 


287 


tion  to  the  magnetic  needle  according  to  their  situation, 
whether  near  or  remote  from  the  magnetic  poles.  Or,  as 
he  himself  expresses  it,  Part  II,  chap,  xv.,  n.  2, — 

"  '  The  vortex,  therefore,  of  our  earth  consists  of  particles 
of  the  magnetic  element,  for  it  is  known  that  there  is  a  vortex 
which  surrounds  the  earth,  and  within  which,  like  a  nucleus, 
the  earth  is  revolved,  or  is  enfolded  as  an  infant  in  the  arms 
of  its  nurse.' 

"  The  fact  of  such  a  magnetic  vortex  was  already  known, 
and  indeed  was  suggested  by  the  celebrated  Kepler,  in  1619. 
This  is  admitted ;  but  no  one  prior  to  Swedenborg  had  sug- 
gested (what  every  aurora  now  exhibits  as  a  self-evident  fact), 
that  this  vortex  is  formed  of  progressive  streams  flowing  out 
of  the  northern  magnetic  pole,  and  into  the  southern,  and  in 
their  course  deflecting  the  needles  wherever  they  may  be 
situated,  and  irresistibly  impelling  them  in  the  same  direction 
as  themselves.  The  following  is  Swedenborg*s  announce- 
ment : — 

"  '  Such  as  is  the  situation  of  the  particles  of  the  magnetic 
element,  such  will  be  the  situation  of  the  magnet  when  left  to 
itself.  For  this  element  directs  the  sphere,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  body  of  the  magnet  into  a  parallelism  and  similarity 
of  situation  with  its  own  ;  or  more  clearly  thus — such  as  is  the 
situation  of  the  particles  of  the  magnetic  element,  such  also 
is  the  declination  of  the  needle.  As  for  example : — At  Paris, 
in  the  year  1727,  where  the  declination  was  observed  to  be 
14°  west,  then  in  the  same  place  the  very  particles  of  the 
element  declined  themselves  at  an  angle  of  14°  from  the  north 
pole  of  the  earth  toward  the  west,  and  consequently  so  also 
did  the  needle.' — Ihid^  n.  8. 

"  Side  by  side  with  Swedenborg  we  place  the  theory  of  M. 
Biot,  which  expresses  the  general  opinion  of  the  scientific 
world ;  speaking  of  which  Dr.  Lardner  observes  {Cabinet  Cy- 
clopcedia — Magnetism,  vol.  ii.,  p.  232-33)  '  that  it  appears 
most  entitled  to  attention.'  We  are  disposed  to  ask — What 
difference  is  there  between  the  theory  of  Swedenborg,  as  given 
above,  117  years  ago,  which  affirms  that  the  streams  of  '  this 
(magnetic)  element  direct  the  sphere  and  body  of  the  magnet 
into  a  parallelism  and  similarity  of  situation  with  their  own,* 


288 


swedenborg's  magnetic  theories. 


and  the  following  theory  of  the  French  observer,  M.  Biot, 

given  in  1818? 

"  '  The  fact  that  the  rays  or  columns  of  light  (magnetic 
streams  of  the  vortex  forming  an  aurora)  are  always  parallel 
to  the  clipping  needle,  and  always  symmetrically  placed  with 
respect  to  the  magnetic  meridian,  demonstrates  that  the  cause, 
whatever  it  be,  has  an  intimate  relation  with  that  of  terrestrial 


magnetism. 


(( 


'He  considers  that  the  phenomenon  is  produced  by  an 
infinite  number  of  luminous  columns  (or  streams)  parallel  to 
the  dipping  needle  and  to  each  other,  arranged  side  by  side.'  . 
"  To  the  list  of  observers  of  this  parallelism  and  similarity 
in  situation  of  the  magnetic  streams  and  the  direction  of  the 
needle,  we  can  add  the  testimonies  of  Parry,  Franklin, 
Richardson,  Ross,  and  Hearne,  explorers  near  the  north  pole  ; 
Gieseke  in  Greenland  ;  Henderson  and  Thienemann  in  Iceland ; 
Sabine,  Scoresby,  Lottin,  and  Bravais,  in  the  region  of  Spitz- 
bergen  and  North  Cape;  lastly.  Back,  Anjou,  Cook,  and 
Wrangel  in  the  region  of  Behring's  Strait.  Every  one  of 
whose  reports  we  have  taken  the  trouble  to  examine  in  the 
order  here  given,  and  we  find  that  they  successfully  corro- 
borate this  fact.  The  most  striking  instances  of  confirmation 
are  the  following,  to  which  we  direct  the  attention  of  the  sci- 
entific inquirer."  * — Intellectual  Repository ^  pp.  134-137. 

7.  The  Northern  Light  and  Magnetic  Storms. 
In  his  next  article  {Intellect,  Bepos.  pp.  168-175),  Mr.  Bes- 
wick  proceeds  a  step  further,  and  applies  Swedenborg*s  Prin- 
cipia  to  the  elucidation  of  the  aurora  horealis.  This  he 
attempts  by  means  of  Swedenborg's  doctrine  of  spiral  motion  ; 
wherein  he  states  (and  to  a  certain  extent  proves)  the  now 


*  Edin.  Phil.  Journal,  vol.  5,  p.  85,  1826  ;  Humboldt,  Pogg.  Annals 
bd.  xix.,  s.  357,  part  1-3 ;  Gauss  and  Weber,  Magnetic  Results,  1839, 
s.  128  ;  Sabine's  important  work,  Observations  on  Days  of  Unusual 
Magnetic  Disturbances,  1843,  part  14,  pp.  78,  85.  and  87 ;  Thiene- 
mann, Edin.  Phil.  Journal,  vol.  xx.,  p.  366 ;  Lottin  and  Bravais, 
Martin's  Meteorology,  1843,  pp.  117  and  453;  Sir  D.  Brewster, 
Treatise  on  Magnetism,  p.  280 ;  Professor  Challis,  Athenaeum,  Oct. 
31,  1847;  British  Association  Report,  1842,  section  5. 


SWEDENBORG*S   MAGNETIC  THEORIES. 


289 


well-known  fact  that  the  magnetic  needle  receives  its  direction 
dip,  and  intensity  from  the  direction,  dip,  and  intensity  of 
the  magnetic  stream  during  their  flow  in  a  tacit  and  profound 
current  from  one  pole  to  the  other;  and  he  additionally 
affirms,  what  might  be  anticipated  fi-om  the  above  as  a  cor- 
relative, that  the  declinations  or  spiral  windings  of  the 
streams  in  their  fluxion  must  so  impel  and  carry  the  needle, 
as  to  place  it  pointing  in  the  direction  of  the  spire,  and  thus 
give  It  an  equal  amount  of  declination  as  themselves,  so  tliat 
the  increased  spirality  of  the  streams  will  be  clearly  indicated 
by  the  increased  declination  of  the  needle,  and  the  reverse  by 
a  diminished  spirality. 

This  thesis,  he  says,  is  beautifully  illustrated  by  Sweden- 
borg  m  chap,  xiv.,  on  The  Declinations  of  the  Magnet ;  and  in 
chap.  XV.,  on  The  Causes  of  Magnetic  Declination,  and  as 
instances  quotes  the  passage  in  Part  II.,  chap,  xv.,  n.  8, 
which  will  be  found  in  the  preceding  article,  and  also  the  fol- 
lowing : — 

^  "  When  therefore  the  magnet  or  needle  in  its  declination 
IS  urged  by  the  situation  of  the  particles  of  the  ma-netic 
element,  then  the  needle  evidently  receives  a  direction  in  the 
element  according  with  the  position  of  the  particles 
for  the  current  of  the  particles  acts  directly  upon  the 'sphere 
of  the  needle ;  but  if  the  particles  of  the  clement  are  in  an 
oblique  position,  as  in  the  following  figure  (here  follows  dia- 
gram), then  the  particles  are  obliquely  upon  the  sphere  of  the 
needle,  and  urge  it  further  downwards  rather  than  in  the  polar 
direction."— Part  II.,  chap,  xiv.,  n.  5. 

Mr.  B.  also  proved,  by  a  number  of  instances,  that  the 
spirality  of  the  streams  increases  or  diminishes  with  the  in- 
creased or  diminished  intensity  of  their  fluxion  ;  and  hence 
when  speaking  of  the  use  of  certain  magnetic  instruments  in' 
the  experiment  he  proposes  for  the  demonstration  of  Sweden- 
borg's  Magnetic  Theory  of  the  Earth,  he  is  led  to  remark— "The 
decimation  needle  tests  the  spirality  of  the  streams-its 
increase  or  diminution ;  whilst  the  isodvnamic  force  needle 
tests  their  rate  or  intensity  of  fluxion-its  increase  or  diminu- 
tion." 

He  therefore,  as  he  observes,  simply  stated  a  correlative 

25 


290  swedenborg's  magnetic  theories. 

fact,  which  presented  itself  on  the  very  surface  of  Sweden- 
borg's  thesis  of  the  spiral  fluxion  of  these  streams,  when  he 
wro°te  out  the  following  :—  » 

'' Deduction.^lt  will,  therefore,  be  V^^!^^."^ /^^ /f 
xnagnetic  storms  that  their  commencement  is  mdicated  by  a 
diminishing  intensity  and  decreased  decimation  from  the 
earth's  pole ;  and  their  cessation  and  abatement  by  a  rever- 

''The  whole  philosophy  of  which,  he  says,  Swedenborg  gives 

in  the  following  short  sentence  :—  ^     .    y     r^r,  of 

u  The  more  intense  the  motion  the  greater  the  decimation  of 
the  spires."— Part  II.,  chap,  i.,  n.  8. 

As  an  additional  confirmation  of  his  theory  Mr.  Beswick 
mentions  (p.  211),  that  a  scientific  friend  called  his  atten  ion 
to  the  striking  confirmation  which  the  wires  and  needles  of 
the  electric  telegraph  present  of  the  above  uniform  law  of 
Lgnetic  storms,  as  directly  deduced  from  Swedenborg  3 
Theory  of  Magnetic  Spiral  Motion  :— 

"  Magnetic  Storms, 
"  Did  any  doubt  remain  of  the  electrical  character  of  the 
aurora  horealis,  it  would  be  removed  by  the  f^'-^^^^^'T 
sented  by  the  needles  of  the  telegraph,  and  often  by  the  b  11 
during  the  prevalence    of  this   meteor.     At   such   times   the 
needled  move  just  as  if  a  good  working  current  were  pursuing 
its  ordinary  course  along  the  wires  ;  they   are  deflected  this 
way  or  that,  at  times   with   a   quick  motion,  and  changmg 
rapidly  from  side  to  side  many  times  in  a  few  ^^^onds  ;  and 
at  other  times  moving  more  slowly  and  remaming  deflected  for 
xnany  minutes,  with  greater  or  less  intensity,  their  motion 
bein'  inconstant  and  uncertain.      These  phenomena  have  oc 
curr:d  less  frequently  on  the  part  of  the  line  between  Reigate 
and  Dover,  which  runs  nearly  east  and  west,  than  on  the  part 
between  London  and  Reigate,  which  is  nearly  north  and  south 
Wlien,  however,  they  do  make  their  appearance  on  the  tele- 
graph  in  those  parts,  we  are  prepared  to  expect  auroral  mani- 
testations  when  night  arrives  ;  and  we  are  rarely  disappointed. 
^Electric  Telegraph  Manipulations,  by  Charles  V,  WalHer. 


swedenborg's  magnetic  theories. 


291 


8.      Professor   Gauss's   Theory   Identical  in  Principle 

WITH   SwEDENBORG'S    MAGNETIC   TheORY. 

"  My  honored  friend,  the  great  mathematician,  Frederick 
Gauss,  has  succeeded  in  establishing  the  first  general  theory  of 
terrestrial  magnestism."— Humboldt's  (7os?nos,  vol,  ii.,  p.  720. 

"  I  think  also  that  you  will  find  that  ...  is  entirely 
superseded  by  the  more  general  theory  of  magnetic  attraction 
to  and  repulsion  from  every  part  of  the  earth.  This  theory 
was  first  explained  in  the  Theory  of  Terrestial  Magnetism  of 
Gauss  and  Weber,  to  which  I  would  beg  leave  to  refer  you, 
etc." — Royal  Astronomer,  in  a  letter  to  S.  B.,  Sept.  24,  1849. 

On  the  strength  of  these  quotations  Mr.  Beswick  observes : 
"  The  Gaussian  theory  is  therefore  the  first  and  only  one  ac- 
knowledged by  the  scientific  world,  capable  of  explaining  the 
varied  phenomena  exhibited  in  the  geographical  distribution  of 
the  earth's  magnetism  ;  but  we  now  propose  to  prove  that  its 
fundamental  principle  was  enunciated  by  Swedenborg  (1734) 
104  years  before  the  publication  of  the  Gaussian  theory 
(1838).  The  following  is  submitted  for  the  reader's  inspec- 
tion : — 


Swedenborg  in  1734. 

We  thus  obtain  the  situation  of  the 
particles  (or  declination)  in  every  place, 
provided  there  be  given  the  distances  (in 
latitude)  or  arcs  from  the  poles,  and  the 
angles  formed  by  each  with  a  given 
meridian  (or  longitude).— Part  II.,  chap. 
XV.,  n.  8. 


Gauss  in  1838. 

After  the  geometrical  representation 
of  the  relations  of  the  horizontal  force, 
we  proceed  to  develop  the  mode  of  sub- 
mitting them  to  calculation.  On  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  V,  (wiiich  repre- 
sents the  whole  of  the  earth's  magnetic 
force,)  becomes  a  simple  function  of  two 
variable  magnitudes,  for  which  we  will 
take  geographical  longitude  reckoned 
eastward  from  an  arbitrary  first  meri- 
dian, and  the  distance  (in  latitude)  from 
the  north  pole  of  the  earth.— Taylor^ s 
Scientific  Memoirs,  Article  V.,  p.  205. 

"  It  will  be  almost  superfluous  to  affirm  that  the  method  in- 
vented by  each  for  the  expressed  purpose  of  obtaining  mag- 
netic declination  is  founded  upon  the  same  principle.  The 
particulars  of  each  method,  we  admit,  are  in  every  respect 
unlike  each  other,  but  the  principle  is  indisputably  identical. 
In  the  same  page  as  the  above  the  principle  is  again  stated  by 
Gauss  in  another  form,  thus  : — 

Resolving  the  horizontal  magnetic  force  into  two  por- 
tions, one  of  which,  X,  acts  in  the  direction  of  the  geographical 


j 

L 

r.ril 
I  -"if 


292  swedenborg's  magnetic  theories. 

meridian,  and  the  other,  Y,  perpendicularly  to  that  meridian.' 

^u  sTindeed,  does  Swedeoborg ;  and  if  the  reader  will  take 
the  trouble  he  will  discover  that  the  enunciation  of  this  iden- 
tical principle,  and  its  exposition,  occupies  the  whole  of  chap 
XV.,  vol.  ii.      What  could  be  more  evidently  identical  than  the 
following  ? — 


Gauss  in  1838. 

It  is  clear  that  the  knowledge  of  Y  on 
the  whole  earth,  combined  with  the 
knowledn-e  of  X  at  all  points  of  a  line 
running  fmm  one  side  ot  the  earth  to 
the  other,  is  suUicient  for  the  foundation 
of  the  complete  theory  of  the  magnetism 
of  the  earth.— p.  206. 


Swedenborff  in  1734. 

We  thus  obtain  the  situation  of  the 
^articles  (or  declination)  in  every  place, 
provided  there  be  given  the  distances  or 
Srcs  (of  latitude,  or  Y)  from  the  poles 
and  the  angles  (or  X)  formed  by  each 
with  a  given  meridian.— Part  11.,  cnap. 
XV.,  n.  8. 


"  Swedenborg,  in  his  formula,  affirms  ihat  we  obtain  the 
declination  of  the  earth's  magnetism  '  in  every  Pj^^«'  FOJ'^^^ 
^■e  have  a  trigonometrical  value  of  the  arcs  of  latitude  and 
anMes  of  longitude  which  the  two  magnetic  poles  make  with 
dearth's  pofes,  and  a  given  meridian  ;  for  then  we  can  ob.am 
the  value  of  the  magnetic  force  for  the  whole  earth,  repre- 
sented by  V,  as  it  operates  in  the  twofold  direction  of  latitude 
aid  lonjtude  at  thJplace  of  observation.      Te  precise  va^ue 
of  this  force  in  each  direction  Gauss  represents  by  f  ^"^  X  , 
the  knowledge  of  which,  both  he  and  Swedenborg  affirm  is 
sufficient  for  a  complete  theory  of  terrestrial  magnetism     The 
Sc  pie  assumed  by  each  is,  therefore,  whhout  doubt,  strictly 
EtS.     Hence  tL  values  of  the  latus  calcuh  and  auguhis 
calculi,  "iven  in  Swedenborg's  method,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  160-61.  are 
idTn  ca!with  the  values  of  X  and  Y  in  Gauss's  method.    For 
in  brthv  simply  mean  the  value  of  V,  or  the  whole  earth's 
I'netic  force  in  'he  twofold  direction  of  latitude  and  longi- 
Tud:      Now  in  all  the  great  m..ss  of  calculations  from  p^  166 
Z  n  225  Vol  II.,  as  well  as  in  all  the  diagrams,  p.  368,  the 
id!;  f  c  a Jd  7o,   in   Swedenborg's   method,    are  equivalent 
values  for  Y  in  the  two  hemispheres,  as  given  in  every  case  by 
GW   method.     The  whole  of  Swedenborg's  remarl.s  from 
?  158  to  161,  are  explanatory  of  the  corrections  to  be  made 
L  the  rotund 'y  of  the  earth  in  latitude  and  longitude,  and 
ttegradual  variation  of  the  magnetic  force  in  this  twofold 
i-eSon ;  in  other   words,  to  obtain  the  clear  or  net  values  of 


SWEDENBORG  S   MAGNETIC  THEORIES. 


293 


the  sides  and  angles  in  Swedenborg's  formula,  or  of  X  and  Y 
in  the  Professor's  formula. 

"  But  there  is  not  only  an  identity  in  principle — which  is  but 
a  simple  principle  in  mechanics — we  also  find,  upon  strict  in- 
vestigation, that  it  pervades  all  his  methods,  and  is  the  funda- 
mental condition  of  all  his  problems  and  solutions.  In  every 
instance  given  in  the  Professor's  profound  essay  to  investigate 
some  special  feature  of  the  terrestrial  magnetic  forces,  the 
following  remark  of  the  Swedish  philosopher  receives  a 
singular  fulfilment : — 

''  '  That  we  can  find  no  other  proportion  than  the  one  exist- 
ing between  the  distances  and  angles.' — p.  149. 

"  The  following  is  an  instance,  amongst  many,  of  a  striking 
identity  in  fundamental  problems  : — 


Gauss  in  1838. 

We  must  consider  the  problem  in  all 
its  generality.  We  select  for  the  pur- 
pose the  distance  r  (or  Swedenborg's 
0)  from  tlie  centre  of  the  earth,  the 
angle  u  (or  Swedenborg's  ba)  which  r 
makes  with  the  northern  part  of  the 
earth's  axis,  and  the  angle  li  which  a 
plane  passing  through  r  and  the  axis  of 
the  earth  makes  with  a  tirst  meridian. — 
p.  202. 


Stoedenhorg  in  1734. 

Let  the  place  of  observation  be  in  c 
(fig.  89).  Let  the  meridian  of  this  place 
be  in  ah;  the  magnetic  north  pole  in  6; 
magnetic  south  pole  in  g;  distance 
from  one  pole  to  the  place  of  obser- 
vation be  be,  &c. — Part  U.,  chap,  xv., 
n.  8. 


"  Now  the  same  diagram  will  represent  the  conditions  of 
both.  Indeed  the  Professor's  conditions,  as  given  above,  re- 
ferring as  they  do,  and  as  himself  states,  to  the  problem  of 
magnetic  distribution  in  its  widest  generality,  embody  only 
the  values  of  the  angles  and  sides  to  which  we  have  so  often 
referred,  as  the  fundamental  conditions  of  Swedenborg's 
method,  for  the  northern  hemisphere  only.  We  cannot  further 
analyze  the  above  quotations,  from  the  want  of  a  diagram  as 
the  means  of  illustrating  our  remarks,  but  we  at  once  refer 
the  reader  to  fig.  89  in  the  Principia.  In  fact  there  is  not  one 
essential  feature  in  the  Gaussian  theory  and  method,  respect- 
ing declination,  but  can  be  found  in  detail,  and  extensively 
confirmed  and  illustrated  both  by  argument  and  experiment,  in 
the  profound  work  of  the  Swedish  philosopher,  Emanuel 
Swedenborg.  And  this  work  (Principia)^  so  full  of  research, 
and  superaboundiug  in  germs  of  philosophical  discovery,  was 
published  to  the  world,  containing  the  fundamental  prindpium 
25* 


294 


swedenborg's  magnetic  theories. 


of  the  Gaussian  theory  of  terrestrial  magnetism,  an^  of  the 
method  for  computing  magnetic  declination,  one  hundred  and 
four  years  before  the  work  containing  the  latter  came  into 
being  !  "-—Intelledaal  Repository  for  1850,  pp.  213-216. 

We  shall  close  here  our  extracts  from  Mr.  Beswick's  in- 
teresting series  of  papers  on  Swedenborg's  principles  of 
magnetism  ;  but  in  doing  so  we  must  direct  the  attention  of 
our'' readers  to  one  additional  paper  of  Mr.  Beswick  in  the 
Intellectual  Repository,  pp.  216-220,  in  which  he  shows  that 
Swedenborg  not  only  anticipated  in  full  all  the  modern 
theories  about  magnetism,  but  also  that  ''  his  method  improved 
is  the  only  one  capable  of  computing  magnetic  declination  for 
all  places  and  times— past,  present,  and  to  come." 


V. 


SWEDENBORG'S   ASTRONOMICAL  THEORIES. 

1.    Introductory  Notes. 

Before  entering  upon  a  discussion  in  detail  of  the  astro- 
nomical theories  promulgated  by  Swedenborg,  and  before  com- 
paring them  with  those  that  have  since  been  adopted  by 
science,  we  think  it  best  to  give  to  our  readers  an  insight  into 
the  gi'ounds  on  which  the  whole  of  Swedenborg's  astronomical 
system  is  based,  using  his  own  words  for  this  purpose.  He 
says  : — 

"  The  magnetic  sphere  w^ith  its  vorticles  is  a  type  and  small 
eflRgy  of  the  starry  heaven  ;  there  is  the  same  kind  of  motion 
in  small  things  as  in  great ;  for  the  same  element  which  is 
moved  in  a  vortical  direction,  is  in  both." — Principia^  Part  II., 
chap.  1,  n.  22. 

In  order  to  understand  Swedenborg's  system  of  the  starry 
heavens,  we  must  therefore  have  an  idea  of  his  theory  of  the 
magnet.  This  theory  we  shall  present  for  the  sake  of  con- 
venient reference,  in  the  following  numbers  : — 

1.  The  magnetic  element,  inasmuch  as  it  is  most  sub- 
tile, and  prior,  permeates  with  a  current  perfectly  uninter- 
rupted, the  interstices  of  every  succeeding  and  grosser  element. 
Thus  it  is  capable  of  flowing  freely  not  only  through  volumes 
of  the  elements,  such  as  air  and  ether,  but  also  through  water 
and  matter ;  as  in  like  manner  through  hard  bodies,  whether 
of  wood  or  of  stone.  It  presents  to  our  view  its  phenomena 
and  natural  mechanism,  more  especially  in  the  case  of  magnets, 
although  it  acts  likewise  upon  the  particles  of  ether,  air,  and 
other  elements,  which,  without  an  orderly  sequence,  and  series 
of  smaller  and  greater  particles,  could  not  subsist. — Principia^ 
Part.  II.,  chap,  viii.,  n.  1 ;  chap,  xv.,  n.  1. 

(295) 


296  swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 

2  Every  particle  of  this  element  spontaneously  endeavors 
to  enter  into  a  vortical  motion,  if  there  be  only  an  active 
centre  round  which  they  can  gyrate.  There  may  be  as  many 
spiral  cryrations  or  vorticles  as  there  are  centres  of  motion  ; 
and  th"e  vorticles  may  be  conjoined  one  with  another  in  a 
manner  conformable  to  their  figure  and  motion.  If  the  vor- 
ticles are  conjoined  as  to  their  spires,  and  as  to  the  harmony 
of  their  motions,  they  are  also  as  it  were  naturally  colligated 
by  their  conjunctions  ;  and  tend  to  remain  in  that  state  of  con- 
junction. Vorticles,  or  spiral  gyrations  of  this  kind,  have  a 
greater  tendency  to  conjunction  and  colligation  with  each 
other,  the  nearer  they  are  to  the  centre,  or  the  greater  ^^« 
curvature  of  the  spires  by  which  they  are  conjoined.— i6ifl^., 

chap.  1,  nos.  I,  7-9. 

3  There  are  corpuscles  so  small  as  to  emanate  and  exhale 
from  hard  bodies  in  the  form  of  effluvia  ;  of  this  kind  are  the 
smallest  corpuscles  or  effluvia  proceeding  from  magnets  and 
iron.  Corpuscles  of  every  form  are  magnetic  ;  provided  the 
elementary  magnetic  particles  can  pass  through  their  pores, 
and  the  connectives  of  their  structure,  and  do  not  open  wide 
enou-h  for  particles  of  a  grosser  element.  Corpuscles  of  this 
kind^ or  effluvia,  when  free,  cannot  be  quiescent;  but  gyrate 
continually  round  their  centre  conformably  to  the  situation  of 
the  elementary  particles.  They  constitute,  therefore,  active 
centres,  and  form  around  themselves  spiral  gyrations  or  vor- 
ticles.—iW.,  chap.  1,  nos.  10,  11.  .     «,     • 

4.  Accordingly,  such  as  is  the  number  of  magnetic  effluvia, 
such  is  the  number  of  vorticles  formed  round  the  magnet.  The 
greater  the  quantity  of  these  effluvia  round  a  magnet,  the 
greater  is  the  number  of  centres  and  vorticles  ;  also  the  more 
nearly  and  closely  may  they  be  conjoined  and  colligated  by 
their  imerior  spires,  and  vice  versa.  The  colligation  of  the 
effluvia  or  vorticles  is  closer  at  a  less  than  at  a  greater  distance 
from  the  mass  ;  and  closest  at  its  confines  or  boundaries,  or 
nearest  to  the  mass.  The  vorticles  surround  this  mass  by  a 
continually  connected  line  from  one  polar  wall  to  the  other  ; 
and  thus  connect  and  enclose  each  wall  and  pole  by  means  of 
a  kind  of  sphere.  By  this  sphere,  therefore,  is  formed  a 
figure  similar  to  the  oval,  conformably   to  whose  curvature  or 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


297 


surface  the  axes  of  the  vorticles  are  inflected.  By  reason  of 
the  connection  between  the  vorticles  which  extend  from  one 
pole  to  the  other,  and  of  the  formation  of  the  sphere,  there 
exist  poles  one  on  each  side  of  the  magnet ;  there  exist  in  like 
manner  polar  axes  extending  in  the  sphere  to  a  distance  from 
the  magnet ;  and  these  axes  do  not  receive  their  determination 
from  the  magnet,  but  from  the  sphere  and  its  figure. — Ihid,^ 
chap.  1,  nos.  12,  13,  17-19. 

5.  The  axes  of  the  vorticles  are  not  in  one  parallelism  and 
situation  with  the  axis  of  the  sphere  ;  but  are  inflected  ac- 
cording to  the  figure  of  the  sphere  ;  and  this  inflection  begins 
at  the  polar  axis  of  the  sphere.  The  whole  motion  in  the 
vorticle  is  according  to  the  situation  of  its  axis ;  or  the  axis 
has  a  flexure  conformable  to  the  motion.  If  the  axes  are  in 
a  right  line,  the  motions  in  the  vorticle  are  concentric  ;  if  the 
axes  are  inflected,  the  motions  are  eccentric  ;  if  several  vorticles 
are  in  the  vicinity  of  each  other,  according  to  whose  motion 
and  application  the  axes  are  to  be  curved,  then  is  there  at 
different  distances  from  the  centre  or  effluvium  a  different 
eccentricity. — Ihid.^  nos.  20,  22. 

6.  The  axes  of  the  vorticles  and  the  axes  of  the  elemen- 
tary particles  round  the  magnet  are  in  the  same  parallelism ; 
and  the  elementary  particles  are  disposed  by  the  motion  of 
the  vorticles  into  the  same  situation,  and  the  same  figure  of 
situation  with  the  sphere.  The  axis  of  the  sphere,  or  the 
common  axis  of  the  vorticles,  lies  parallel  with  the  common 
axis  of  the  magnetic  element  itself,  so  as  to  be  exactly  accom- 
modated to  it ;  but,  nevertheless,  it  may  be  easily  diverted  from 
this  into  any  other  direction.  When  free,  however,  it  will  al- 
ways be  directed  and  relapse  into  the  situation  of  the  common 
axis. — Ihid.^  nos.  21,  23. 

7.  Two  or  more  magnetic  spheres  may  be  combined. 
Their  conjunction  will  be  most  close  and  direct  at  the  poles, 
but  between  the  poles  is  slighter  and  obliquer. — Ihid,^  n.  26,  27. 

8.  Without  influxes  and  effluxes  of  particles,  there  can  be 
no  continuous  spiral  motion  ;  therefore  at  the  magnetic  poles 
of  our  earth  there  are  made  apertures  in  the  magnetic  sphere 
in  the  form  of  cones,  through  which  the  magnetic  element  can 
flow  in,  and  also  flow  out  on  the  opposite  side.      The  influx  of 


298 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


the  particles  of  this  element  is  at  the  south  pole,  and  hence  it 
tends  to  the  north  ;  not  like  a  stream  and  torrent,  but  like  a 
tranquil  and  tacit  current,  which  gradually,  and  without  any 
sensible  motion,  pursues  its  course  from  one  haven  to  another. 
— Ibid.,  Part  II.,  chap,  xv.,  nos.  2-4. 

9.     All  things  are  similar  one  to  the  other  ;  because  in  small 
things  as  well  as  in  large,   nature  preserves  the  greatest  simi- 
larity to  herself.      Thus,  in  the  magnet  and  its  sphere  there  is 
a  type  and  ef&gy  of  the  heaven  ;    a  mundane  system  in  minia- 
ture, and  accommodated  to  our  senses.     In  the  sphere  of  the 
magnet  are  spiral  gyrations  or  vorticles  ;  in  like  manner,  in  the 
sidereal  heavens  there  are  spiral  gyrations  and  vortices.  In  every 
vorticle  round  the  magnet  there  is  an  active  centre  ;  in  every  vor- 
tex in  the  heaven  there  is  also  an  active  centre.  In  every  vorticle 
round  the  magnet  the   motion  is  quicker  near  the  centre  than 
it  is  at  a  distance  from  it ;  the  same  is  the  case  in  every  vortex 
in  the  heaven.      In  every  vorticle  round  the  magnet  the  spiral 
gyration  is  of  greater  curvature  in  proportion  to  its  nearness 
to   the   centre ;  the    same   is  the  case  in  every  vortex  in  the 
heaven.     In  every  vorticle  round  the  magnet  there  are,  in  all 
probability,   corpuscles  fluent  round  the  centre  and  revolving 
round  an  axis ;  such  also  is  the  case  with  every  vortex  iu  the 
heaven.     The  vorticles  round  the  magnet  mutually  colligate 
themselves  by  means  of  their   spiral   motions,  and,  thus  colli- 
gated, form  a   larger  sphere ;  the   same  is   the  case  in   the 
sidereal  heaven — not  to  mention  other  points  of  agreement  of 
which  we  shall  speak  in  the  sequel. — Frincipia,  Part  III., 
chap.  1,  Introduction. 

We  shall  now  investigate  the  extent  to  which  the  astronom- 
ical theories  advocated  by  Swedenborg  have  been  confirmed 
by  modern  science,  taking  Mr.  Beswick  for  our  guide. 

2.  The  Cosmical  Structure  of  the  Starry  Heavens. 
"  One  vortex  or  solar  system,  with  its  active  centre,  consti- 
tutes one  heaven  of  itself,  or  one  mundane  system  ;  several 
vortices,  with  their  centres,  form  together  a  certain  sidereal 
sphere.  A  sphere,  consisting  of  many  vortices  of  the  same 
kind,  has  its  own  proper  figure."  —  Principia,  Part  III., 
chap,  i.,  n.  4. 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


299 


"  The  whole  visible  sidereal  heaven  is  one  large  sphere,  and 
its  suns  or  stars,  together  with  their  vortices,  are  parts  of  a 
sphere  connected  one  with  the  other  in  the  manner  we  have 
mentioned." — Ibid.,  n.  5. 

"  There  may  be  innumerable  spheres  or  sidereal  heavens  in 
the  finite  universe.  The  whole  sidereal  heaven  is  perhaps  but 
a  point  in  respect  to  the  universe.  The  sidereal  heaven,  stu- 
pendous as  it  is,  forms  perhaps  but  a  single  sphere  of  which 
our  solar  vortex  constitutes  only  a  part.  Possibly  there  may 
be  innumerable  other  spheres,  and  innumerable  other  heavens 
similar  to  those  we  behold  ;  so  many  indeed,  and  so  mighty, 
that  our  own  may  be  respectively  only  a  point." — Ibid.,  n.  11. 

"  By  the  joint  labors  of  the  two  Herschel's,  and  the  Earl  of 
Rosse,"  says  Mr.  Beswick,  "the  heavens  have  been  gauged 
above,  below,  on  all  sides,  with  their  gigantic  telescopes  ;  and 
the  result  has  been,  that  these  theoretical  suggestions,  so  loftily 
and  sublimely  elevating,  have  now  to  be  regarded  as  matters 
of  fact." 

The  history  of  this  discovery  as  recorded  by  science,  is  as 
follows ; — 

"  The  ingenious  Mr.  Mitchell,  more  than  fifty  years  ago, 
started  the  idea  of  the  stars  being  formed  into  groups  or  sys- 
tems, which  are  entirely  detached  from  one  another,  and  have 
no  immediate  connection." — Dick's  Sidereal  Heavens,  p.  210. 

"  The  next  object  alluded  to  was  the  systematic  arrange- 
ment of  the  stars.  It  was  an  Englishman,  named  Mitchell, 
who  first  observed  this  systematic  arrangement." — Prof.  iVi- 
chol's  Led.  on  Astron,,  see  Manchester  Guardian,  May  15,  1847. 

'*  Mr.  Herschel  improved  on  Mitchell's  idea  of  the  fixed 
stars  being  collected  into  groups." — Encyclopoedia  JBritannica, 
Vol.  II.,  Part  ii.,  p.  472,  Astronomy. 

"  Another  doctrine  published  at  Venice  in  the  year  1763, 
by  M.  Boscovich,  said  to  have  been  first  thought  of  by  Mr. 
Mitchell,"  etc. —  Young* s  Essay  on  the  Power  and  Mechanism  of 
Nature,  p.  64. 

"  It  would  appear  from  the  above  quotations,"  says  Mr. 
Beswick,  "  that  Mitchell  was  the  first,  in  the  history  of  hy- 
pothesis, to  propose  a  true  conception  of  the  cosmical  structure 
of  the  starry  heavens.     He  suggested,  that  gravitation  might 


300 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


301 


cause  the  stars  to  cluster  together  into  distinct  systems  ;  that 
as  planets  are  parts  of  solar  systems,  so  are  solar  systems  parts 
of  what  may  be  called  star  systems.  Mitchell's  proposition, 
given  in  17G7  (Phil.  Trans.  1767  and  1783),  contains,  accord- 
ing to  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  scientific  world,  as  shown 
above,  the  first  suggestion  on  record  of  the  grouping  of  stars 
into  separate  and  distinct  systems. 

"  But  the  true  history  of  the  matter  stands  thus  :  Kant,  the 
celebrated  German  transcendentalist,  was  the  first  who  pub- 
lished a  true  conception  of  the  distribution  of  matter  in  space. 
The  work  was  called,  On  the  Theory  and  Structure  of  the 
Heavens,  and  published  at  Konigsberg  in  1755.  About  this 
time  Mitchell  was  revolving  the  matter  in  his  mind,  but  had 
not  published  anything  thereon.  Lambert,  in  1757,  followed 
Kant  in  his  Letters  on  Cosmogony.  Two  years  subsequently 
(1759)  Boscovich  published  his  celebrated  theory  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  Universe.  All  advocating  similar  views  of  the 
arrangement  and  distribution  of  matter  in  space.  In  1767 
Mitchell  presented  his  views,  but,  difterently  from  all  previous 
theorists,  gave  certain  illustrations  which  brought  the  theory 
at  once  before  the  attention  of  observers,  so  as  to  be  capable 
of  demonstration.  On  this  account,  I  suppose,  he  is  regarded 
as  being  the  first  who  presented  a  true  theory  of  the  starry 
heavens,  the  former  being  entirely  overlooked  or  unknown. 
In  1780,  Herschel  gauges  the  heavens,  and  literally  beholds 
what  had  hitherto  been  only  theoretical,  and  to  some  abso- 
lutely impossible." 

This  statement  of  Mr.  Beswick  is  confirmed  by  Humboldt : 
''The  purely  speculative  conclusions  arrived  at  by  Wright, 
Kant,  and  Lambert,  concerning  the  general  structural  arrange- 
ment of  the  universe,  and  of  the  distribution  of  matter  in 
space,  have  been  confirmed  by  Sir  Wilham  Herschel  on  the 
more  certain  path  of  observation  and  measurement." — Cosmos^ 

vol.  i.,  p.  71. 

"  Yet  preceding  all  these,"  continues  Mr.  B.,  "  and  when 
Kant  was  only  ten  years  of  age,  Swedenborg  had  formally 
given  the  same  ideas  and  views  of  creation — expressly  calling 
his  Essay—'  The  Theory  of  the  Sidereal  Heavens  '—in  his 
immortal  Frincijjia,  published  in    1733,  — being  twenty-two 


years  before  Kant,  twenty-four  years  before  Lambert,  twentv- 
six  years  before  Boscovich,  thirty-four  years  before  Mitchell, 
and  forty-seven  years  before  Herschel.  This  work,  which 
preceded  all  others  in  the  suggestion  of  true  views  regarding 
the  clustering  of  stars,  and  their  arrangement  and  distribution 
in  space,  was  published  under  royal  auspices,  and  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  then  reigning  Duke  of  Brunswick.  Considerable 
extracts,  with  brief  notices,  were  inserted  in  the  '  Acta  Erudi- 
torum  '  of  Leipzig  .  .  .  These  extracts  could  not  fail  to  strike 
the  attention  of  the  German  astronomers,  and  give  rise  to  cer- 
tain general  considerations  ;  to  plant  the  germs  of  more  uni- 
versal and  enlarged  views  of  creation,  and  to  be  suggestive  of 
a  most  rational  and  comprehensive  theory  of  the  sidereal 
heavens." 

3.   Translatory  Motion  of  the  Stars  along  the  Milky 

Way. 

"  One  vortex  or  solar  system,  with  its  active  centre,  consti- 
tutes one  heaven  of  itself,  or  one  mundane  system.  Several 
solar  systems,  with  their  centres,  form  together  a  certain  side- 
real sphere.  This  sphere,  which  consists  of  many  solar  sys- 
tems of  this  kind,  has  its  own  proper  figure,  and  the  figure  of 
the  sphere  its  axes.  The  solar  systems  inflect  and  bend  them- 
selves from  the  axis  in  every  direction,  till  towards  the  other 
axis  ;  around  this  other  axis  they  inflect  and  bend  themselves 
in  a  like  manner,  and  by  the  colligation  of  its  systems  the 
sphere  again  passes  over  (transeat)  to  the  other  axis.  The 
sphere  is  thus  colligated  with  its  axes,  so  that  all  the  systems 
in  the  whole  sphere  have  reference  to  the  axes." — Frincipia, 
Part  HI.,  chap,  i.,  n.  5. 

"-  The  common  axis  of  the  sphere  or  sidereal  heaven  seems 
to  be  the  milky  way,^  where  there  is  the  largest  gathering  of 
stars.  Along  the  milky  way  all  systems  are  in  a  rectilinear 
position  and  series,  in  which  direction  the  poles  cohere.  The 
systems  are  likewise  connected  there  more  intimately,  and  by 
spirals  of  sharper  curves.  The  remaining  solar  or  stellar  sys- 
tems afterwards  proceed  (prodeant)  from  the  axis,  and  inflect 
themselves  in  difierent  directions  ;  yet  they  have  all  reference 
to  this  axis." — Ihid.,  n.  8. 

26 


302 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


303 


"  Tlie  striking  fact  of  the  sun's  translatovy  motion  amongst 
the  stars,  first  distinctly  observed  by  Sir  W.  Herschel,"  says 
Mr.  Beswick,  "  lias  now  received  instrumental  demonstration. 
The  perfection  of  our  astronomical  instruments  of  measure- 
ment, the  admirable  exactitude  and  extreme  nicety  with  which 
they  can  be  used,  on  account  of  considerable  improvements  in 
the  art  of  observing,  have  enabled  us  to  reduce  our  advance 
towards  remote  stars,  in  the  opposite  region  of  the  heavens,  to 
visual  perceptibility,  like  an  approximation  towards  remote 
objects  in  apparent  motion  on  a  distant  shore. 

"  Bessel,  the  Konigsberg  astronomer,  has  solved  the  grand 
problem  of  stellar  remoteness.  His  investigations  were  made 
upon  the  star  61  Cygni,  in  the  wing  of  the  Swan;  they  com- 
menced in  the  year  1834,  and  were  completed  in  1838 ;  and 
during  the  whole  of  this  period,  he  ordinarily  took  observations 
sixteen  times  every  night.  At  length  the  long  sought-for 
desideratum — the  determination  of  the  annular  parallax  of  a 
star,  was  complete.  He  gives  it  ==  0^^3136,  or  somewhat 
less  than  one-third  of  a  second,*  which  places  this  star  at  the 
astonishing  distance  from  us  of  657,700  times  the  radius  of 
the  earth's  orbit,  or  nearly  62^  billions  of  miles.  The  dis- 
tance is  obtained  as  follows :— When  the  angle  or  parallax  is 
secured,  the  distance  of  the  star  is  then  determined  by  an  easy 
process  in  trigonometry,  thus  : — 

Radius  ;  sine  of  angle  : :  diameter  of  the  earth's  orbit  :  dis- 
tance of  the  star. 

"  The  parallaxes  and  distances  of  thirty-five  stars,  ascertained 
by  M.  Peters,  and  of  two  other  stars,  have  been  most  satis- 
factorily completed  within  the  last  few  years.  The  measure- 
ments by  Maclear,  Meadows,  and  Henderson,  of  the  double 
star  in  Centauri,t  was  completed  in  1840,  with  a  probable 
mean  error  of  only  0".0640,  and  those  by  Professor  Struve  in 


*  Bessel.  Schura.  Jahrb.  1830,  s.  47 ;  and  Schum.  Astron.  Nachr. 
bd.  xviii.,  s.  401,  402,  where  the  probable  mean  error  is  given 
=  0".0141 ;  also  Dick's  Sidereal  Heavens,  p.  80. 

t  Maclear,  Results  from  1839  to  1840,  Trans.  Astron.  Soc.,  vol.  xii., 
p.  370;  also  Henderson  and  Lieut.  Meadows,  Monthly  Notices,  1842, 
vol.  v.,  p.  223. 


1842.*  From  these  distinct  and  perfectly  independent  meas- 
urements, it  appears  there  is  now  the  possibility  of  actually 
measuring  the  velocity  and  direction  of  our  solar  system 
amongst  the  stars,  and  of  the  stars  in  their  progressions  along 
the  milky  way.  Bessel  informs  us,  that  from  his  measurement 
of  the  relative  velocity  of  our  solar  system,  and  the  star 
61  Cygni,  after  allowing  each  its  proper  motion,  there  will  be 
a  velocity  for  our  planetary  system,  in  space,  of  nearly  three 
and  a  half  millions  of  miles  in  one  day  (3,336,000)  ;  which  is 
rather  more  than  double  the  earth's  velocity  in  its  orbit  in  the 
same  time,  or  about  2,316  miles  per  minute.  The  direction 
in  which  the  system  is  moving,  is  also  mathematically  defined. 
From  a  comparison  of  Professor  Struve's  measurements  with 
the  admirable  and  exact  researches  of  Argelander,t  we  have 
the  mean  direction  of  the  sun's  motion  =  259°  9'  R.  A.,  mul- 
tiplied by  34°  36'  Decl.  The  calculations  of  Sir  W.  Herschel, 
and  of  four  of  the  most  eminent  astronomers,  concur  in  estab- 
lishing this  direction  from  the  stars  of  the  northern  hem- 
isphere ;  and  it  has  further  been  confirmed  by  the  researches 
of  Galloway,  who  came  to  the  same  conclusion,  from  the 
proper  motions  of  the  stars  in  the  southern  hemisphere.  The 
parallaxes  of  thirty-five  stars,  ascertained  by  M.  Peters,  give 
the  same  direction.  Wc  are,  therefore,  moving  in  a  direction 
towards  a  point  in  the  constellation  of  Hercules 

"  Having  shown  the  astronomical  grounds  for  believing  in 
a  translatory  motion  of  all  the  stars  of  the  visible  heaven 
along  the  galaxy,  we  have  now  a  clear  way  by  which  to  pro- 
ceed, in  order  to  present  a  satisfactory  confirmation  of  Swe- 
denborg's Theory  of  the  Magnetic  Course  of  the  Sidereal 
Heavens. 

"  In  the  year  1733  this  theory  was  given  to  the  world.  At 
that  time  the  translatory  motion  of  the  fixed  stars  had  not 
been  conjectured :  the  idea  of  a  proper  motion  belonging  to 


*  Struve.     Bulletin  of  Acad,  of  St.  Petersburgh,  1842,  t.  x.  No.  9. 
pp.  137-139. 

t  Argelander.     Schum.  Astron.  Nachr.  No.  363-64,  398 ;  also  his 
Treatise  On  the  Proper  Motion  of  the  Solar  System,  1837,  s.  33. 


304  swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 

the  solar  svstem  had,  however,  been  adopted  by  ITalloy,  arid 
other  of  Swedenborg's  coDtcniporaries.*     No  sooner  had  the 
latter  opinion  gained  ground  by  the  subsequent  researches  of 
Ar.relander,    Struve,   Peters,   Mayer,    Herschel,    and   others, 
than  it  became  evident  from  their  observations  that  there  was 
a  general  rush,  or  local  fluxio'J,  along  the  galaxy,  of  all  the 
stars  of  the  firmament.     Let  the  reader  bear  in  mmd,  we  are 
referrin-  to  sidereal  measurements  in  the  starry  rmg  made 
within  °he  last    thirty   years.f      We   prefer    presentmg   the 
resuhs  of  these  measurements  and  researches,  for  many  rea- 
sons,   in   the   words    of  Baron   Humboldt,    Cosmos,   vol.   i., 

p.  139  :—  p  u         .• 

"  '  These  data  give  ns  some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  motions 
which,  divided  into  infinitely  small  portions  of  time,  proceed 
without  intermission  in  the  great  chronometer  of  time.     If  for 
a  moment  we  could  yield  to  the  power  of  fancy,  and  imagine 
the  acuteness  of  our  visual  organs  to  be  made  equal  to  the 
extremest  bounds  of  telescopic  vision,  and  bring  together  that 
which  is  now  divided  by  long  periods  of  time,  the  apparent 
rest  that   reigns  in    space   would   suddenly  disappear.      We 
should  see  the  countless  host  of  fixed  stars  moving  in  thronged 
croups  in  different  directions  ;  the  veil  of  the  milky  way  sepa- 
rated   and  broken  up  into   many  parts,   and   motion   ruling 
in  every  portion  of  the  vault  of  heaven.' 

-But  the  main  object  of  this  article  has  yet  to  be  shown. 
In  what  direction  do  the  stars  move  in  space.  Do  they  move 
a^on-  the  milky  way?  Echo  answers,  'They  do.'  The 
theory  of  Swedenborg,  and  the  theory  of  observation,  both 

echo,  '  They  do.'  . 

-  Recently  this  theory  of  sidereal  observation  has  had  its 
exposition  in  an  introductory  lecture  delivered  at  the  opening 


*  respecting  the  opinions  of  Bradley,  Mayer,  Lambert,  Lalande, 
and  Sir  W.  Ilcrschol,  on  the  motion  of  the  solar  system,  see  Arago, 
in  the  Aiinuaire,  1842,  pp.  338-399. 

t  Phil.  Trans.  1803,  p.  225 ;  Sir  J.  Herschel,  Mem.  Astron.  Soc, 
vol  V  p.  171;  Madler,  Astron.  s.  47G;  Bessel  in  Schum.  Jalirh., 
1839,  s.  53  ;  also  Miidler  in  ditto,  s.  95 ;  Encke,  i"  Berlin.  Jahrh.. 
1832,  s.  253,  &c. ;  Arago,  Annuaire,  1834,  pp.  2G0,  295  ;  "r  1842, 
p.  375  ;  Savary  in  the  Connaissance  des  Temps.,  1830,  pp.  5b,  Ibd. 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


305 


of  the  Corfu  University  Session,  1839,  by  O.  F.  Mossatti, 
Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  University  of  the  Ionian 
Islands.  The  following  striking  contrast  between  the  theory 
of  Swedenborg,  when  the  scientific  world,  without  exception, 
had  not  even  conjectured  the  general  fluxion  of  the  starry 
heavens,  and  the  theory  of  Mossalti,  as  expressive  of  that  fact 
when  completely  and  satisfactorily  established,  solicits  the 
reader's  examination : — 


Swedenborg  in  1733,  before  even 
conjectured. 

The  common  axis  of  the  sphere,  or 
sidereal  heaven,  seems  to  be  the  milky 
way,  where  there  is  the  largest  gather- 
ing of  stars  .  .  .  The  solar  or  stellar 
By^*tems  afterwards  proceed  from  the 
axis,  and  inflect  themselves  in  dift'crent 
directions;  yet  they  have  all  reference 
to  this  axis  .  .  .  the  largest  congeries 
is  m  the  milky  way  .  .  .  here  lies  the 
chain  and  magnetic  course  of  the  whole 
of  our  sidereal  he-dven.  —  l^rincima, 
PartlU.,  chap.  1,  n.  8. 


Professor  Mossatti  in  1839,  after 
empirically  determined. 

The  countless  stars  of  the  milky  way 
may  therefore  constitute  an  unchange- 
able system,  circulating  in  an  annular 
space  to  which  they  are  always  limit- 
ed ..  .  The  solar  system  revolves, 
therefore,  in  the  milky  *  way  from  west 
to  east,  exactly  in  the  direction  in  which 
all  the  bodies  of  this  system  revolve. 

To  give,  in  a  few  words,  a  clear  image 
of  what  has  been  said,  consider  a  cluster 
of  countless  stars  in  the  immensity  of 
space,  all  placed  along  a  ring  of  enor- 
mous dimensions,  and  all  moving  in  it 
in  periods  which  only  myriads  of  cen- 
turies can  measure:  following  them  in 
their  long  and  slow  courses,  imagine 
them  to  approach  promiscuously,  but 
alternately,  the  outer  and  inner  edge  of 
the  ring,  and  you  will  have  an  idea  of 
the  sidereal  system  in  which  we   are 
placed.— /Vtt7.  J^ffff.,  vol.  xvii.,  No.  143, 
Feb.,  1843,  pp.  88-«9. 


"  But  our  confirmation  is  not  complete.  We  have  shown 
the  progressive  fluxion  of  the  stars  along  the  milky  way,  but 
not  their  divergence  from  the  axis  or  pole Sweden- 
borg says, — 'That  the  star  systems  inflect  their  course  in 
every  direction  from  one  axis  or  end  of  the  milky  way,  and 
curve  it  towards  the  other.'— Part  III.,  chap,  i.,  n.  5. 

"  The  northern  pole,  or  axis,  is  always  the  pole  of  emer- 
gence, and  the  southern  of  influx ;  in  other  words,  the  mag- 
netic clement  flows  out  of  the  northern  end,  and  in  at  the 
southern  [consult  our  'Introductory  Note'  No.  8,  prefixed  to 
section  1  of  our  present  chapter].  So  also  with  the  milky 
stream.  One  end  is  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  in  the  region 
of  Cepheiis  and  Cassiopea ;  this  we  must  call  the  northern  pole 

26* 


30G  swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 

of  the  milky  way.  The  other  end  is  in  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere, in  the  vicinity  of  Scorpio  and  Sagittarius ;  and  this 
we  must  call  the  southern  pole  of  the  milky  way.  Now  let 
us  compare  the  application  of  Swedenborg's  theory  with  the 
theory  of  observation. 


north  pole  of  the  galaxy. 

Swedenborg^s  Theory  Applied*  HumholdVs  Theory  of  OhservatUmA 


The  stars,  in  diverging  their  course 
in  opposite  direcUons  from  the  northern 
axis,  will  present  an  appearance  of  the 
stream  as  if  it  was  breaking  up  or  split- 
ting into  branches.  So  that  we  may 
expect  to  see  that  appearance  where 
the  northern  axis  is  located,  m  the  re- 
^on  of  Cepheus,  etc. 


The  two  brilliant  nodes  (or  poles)  m 
which  the  branches  of  the  zone  unite  in 
the  region  of  Cepheus  and  Cassiopea, 
and  (the  other)  Sagittarius,  appear  to 
exercise  a  powerful  attraction  on  the 
contiguous  stars:  in  the  most  brilhant 
part,  however  (of  the  northern  axis), 
between  B  and  z  Cygni,  one-half  of  the 
330,000  stars  that  have  been  discovered 
in  a  breadth  of  6°,  are  directed  towards 
one  side,  and  the  remainder  to  the  other. 
It  is  in  this  part  that  Herschel  supposes 
the  layer  to  be  broken  up. 


"  And  well  might  Herschel  suppose  a  breaking  up  in  that 
part,  for  in  the  constellation  of  Cygni  is  the  very  point  of 
divergence  where  the  stars  stream  out  of  the  northern  axis,  so 
that  there  must  necessarily  be  an  appearance  of  breaking  up 
in  the  layer.  We  say  necessarily,  as  to  appearance,  because 
there  really  is  a  splitting  of  the  stream  at  the  northern  axis, 
where  the  streams,  as  Humboldt  expresses  it,  'are  directed 
towards  one  side,  and  the  remainder  to  the  other.'    .... 

"  At  the  southern  pole,  on  the  other  hand,  where  the  stars 
are  comin-  from  all  points  of  the  heavens,  and  crowding  into 
the  galaxy,  we  are  to  expect  the  phenomena  of  clustering, 
crowding  together,  and  grouping,  to  be  characteristic  of  this 
pole. 


*  Principia,  Part  III.,  chap,  i.,  n.  8. 
t  Cosmos,  vol.  i.,  p.  1^0. 


SWEDENBORG'S  ASTRONOMICAL  THEORIES. 


307 


SOUTH  POLE  OP  THE  GALAXY. 


Swedenborg's  Theory  Applied. 


Theory  of  Observation, 


ing?heir'ru;'se7roml?ffS^  eii^'^  ^T'^'  -P-'  -'  the  southern 

towards  the  southern  axis/ w"ll  Sen?  r    k""'^''''''*  ''^^'<'"'  ^«  ^n  »  h^gh  degre? 

the  phenomenon  of  agglomSo^wnn  I-      ?"?  niagnificent,  owing  to  the  buvI 

centration,  or  clusteifSg^the  ^eJ'v  ?e'  nfTh  ^"  m^^"""^  ^"^  larger  development 

ihaf^J"'  that  of  the  norlhern  axis^  So  ste  Hti?n  n?o^^'  7^'?^' from  the  con- 

it^twe  mjjy  ^^          this  phenemeno?  ?«  a  hin^" ''J^^'*,!^"  *«  t'^^t  of  Antinous, 

about  the  southern  axis,  in  the  Sn  f  .1^^'^^^ ''^''f^^''  ^^ile  to  the  north  it 

fore  appear  as  if  scattered  in  counS       'vS\\''''^  '".^he  heavens, 
myriads,  with  a   more   bountlfuT  and    ^^^-  ^^^'^^P'?  structure  of  the  milkv 
flowing  band  than  about  the  northern    ZI  '^  '"•i*'^  ^'^^^^^  ^^S^'oe  comn  S 
pole  of  this  starry  bed     The  reSfnn^?    S""^  magnificent  in  the  body  andTn?  nf 
greatest  brilliancy,  and  ^'here  t?c  «M^.«    Scorpio  the  hand  and  bowVf  1^  ttf 
are  crowded  with^^reate^t  Su'  tVll     kTI-o^-^  the  following  leg^f  Ophlucur 
ot  course,  be  in  the  immediate  vici^l^    oh^ItfT  "^^^he  heaven!  is  fSller  of 
oftho  southern  end  of  the  galaxy  Tin    th~J  ^^^"^iful   and    remarkable  ^ 
the  region  of  Scorpio  and  sfgitSiu's'  '°    byTe  ['^^od'e  of  a««n  ^•''t^  ^""  ^^^^  ^ 

•jjr  lut-ir  moac  oi  assocjation  anH  hi?  «>,^ 

way   which  arc  without  a  parailei  in  an^v";!  K"' '''■■"""^  •'"'^""'""1  b'y  the  JJilkv 

i;;f.r,hr."ai'i'--ri^'«^^^^^^^^^^^ 

aud  numerous  bcj-oud  description  Tov  a,-.  h,.S'n'''''"«  ''""'"""iv-ably minute 
-Fiazcr's  Mag.,  Ko.  221,  May,  ma,  p.  Mi.  '"  ^""""'Wa  inAstrommy. 

"  Thus  it  appears,  that  on  examining  our  own  galaxy  we 
find  aeon  and  translator^  motion  to  be  the  charaeLs^Tc's  If 

of  ,ts  two  extremit,es,  we  find  that  the  stars  of  its  northern 
extrem.ty  are  emerging  therefrom  in  opposite  direction  and 
hereby  widening  their  distances ;  whillt  on  look  Ht  the 
s  ars  of  us  southern  extremity,  and  comparing  them  ll  he 
observations  made  by  old  astronomers,  we  find  they  are  com! 
«g  more  closely  together,  and  pressing  onwards  into  the  Zu 
stream  or  axis  of  the  galaxy. 

"  Never  did  a  theory  receive  so  full  and  yet  so  striking 

motion  of  the  whole  starry  heavens,  coupled  with  the  equally 

the  discovery  without  a  parallel -of  the  exact  situation 


in 


\ 


308 


SWEDENBORG*S   ASTRONOMICAL   THEORIES. 


of  our  solar  system  among  the  stars,  will  alone  stamp  immor- 
tality on  this  work  of  genius,  which  will  ever  be  regarded  as 
going  hand  in  hand  with  its  brother  Principia  (Sir  I.  New- 
ton's), each  helping  the  other,  —  and  whilst  the  one  is  occupied 
in  pointing  out  causes  and  their  phenomena,  and  giving  them 
exposition  in  the  doctrines  of  form,  order  and  degrees,  the 
other  will  assist  in  subjecting  them  to  rule  and  measurement. 
Newton,  at  no  distant  period,  will  be  seen  in  the  studio  of 
Swedenborg,  the  two  in  mutual  converse  with  each  other,  on 
the  destined  uses  of  his  pendulum  and  calculus,  and  the  recip- 
rocal bearing  of  their  respective  Principia. 

"  This  striking  agreement  between  Swedenborg's  theoretical 
Principia,  and  the  facts  of  observation,  are  not  mere  coin- 
cidences, but  are  the  positive  results  flowing  from  the  applica- 
tion of  the  new  formula  he  invented,  and  which  he  based 
on  actual  experiment  and  geometry.  And  these  results  flow 
as  directly  from  his  formula,  as  the  revolutionary  motions  of 
the  planetary  system  fi-om  Newton's  formula  of  gravitation, 
or  the  situation  and  velocity  of  a  new  planet  from  the  formula 
of  Le  Verrier  or  Adams.  The  confirmation  of  his  formula  on 
so  extensive  a  scale,  and  yet  so  complete,  displays  the  pro- 
found correctness  of  his  conception,  the  gigantic  character  of  his 
philosophic  and  mathematical  genius,  the  deeply  penetrating 
sagticity  which  could  anticipate  so  many,  and  so  varied,  but 
wonderful  phenomena,  aided,  likewise,  by  an  indefatigable 
power  of  analytic  thought,  which  never  ceased  until  it  had 
sounded  and  explored  the  universe  on  all  sides,  and  in  all  its 
depths."  \ 


4.     The   Sun's   Position    among  the   Stars. 

Swedenborg  says,  "  Our  solar  vortex  or  system  is  not  in 
the  axis  of  the  sphere,  but  is  near  the  axis  where  there  is  a 
considerable  incurvation  or  inflection." — Principia^  Part  III., 
chap,  i.,  n.  7. 

This  result,  according  to  Mr.  Beswick,  was  obtained  by 
Swedenborg  from  the  following  formula :  "  From  a  given 
number  of  planetary  orbits,  the  eccentricity  and  mean  distance 


' 


\}\ 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories.  309 

of  each  from  their  centre  or  sun,  the  skilful  geometrician  may 
infer  the  relative  situation  of  neighboring  star  systems  ;  also 
the  mflect.ons  and  divergencies  of  solar  systems  from  the 
milky  way,  according  to  their  situation  therein  ;  and  from  this 
again  (as  data),  he  may  discover  in  the  system  of  each  star 
what  will  be  the  circular  or  elliptical  character  of  the  planetary 
orbits  around  each  star,  at  different  distances  therefrom,  with 
various  other  particulars."  -  See  Principia,  Part  III.,  chap,  i., 

''klri''  ''''^  ^'  '''™^''''  ^^"''  "^"^   ''Introductory 

^    ^'  Five  years  subsequently,"  says  Mr.  Beswick,  "  Herschel 
IS  born  (1738).      In  the  year  1789  he  directs  his  monster 
te.escope  to  the  sides  and  surfaces  of  the  galaxy,  and  without 
knowing  of  Swedenborg's  announcement  of  the  sun's  position 
herein,  conjectures  the  identical  spot,  seeks  for  evidence  of  its 
truth  by  a  species  of  star-gauging,  and  a  few  efforts  reward 
his  labors  with  the  most  abundant  confirmation  of  the  reality 
of  his  conjecture.     Certainly,  never  did  a  more  bold  assertion 
receive  a  more  striking  confirmation  !  " 

In  order  to  show  that  Swedenborg  has  assigned  the  true 
and  exact  position  of  our  solar  system  amongst  the  stars,  and 
in  order  to  present  the  comparison  in  the  most  striking  man- 
ner Mr.  B.,  in  the  following  extracts,  selected  only  the  par- 
ticular words  in  which  the  fact  is  given  :— 

"  Swedenborg.  _  ^  Near  the  axis  where  there  is  a  consider- 
able  inflection.* 

^    "  Sir.  J.  Herschel.  -^  Near  the  point  where  it  subdivides 
into  two  principal  laminae.' —^s/ro7i.,  d.  b^Q, 

"Sir  W.  Herschel.  -  ^  Not  far  from  the  place  where  some 
smaller  stratum  branches  out.'  — Phil.  Trans.,  vol.  75. 

'I  There  is  no  mistaking  the  exact  spot  here  indicated  by 
each.     A    affirm  the  situation  of  our  system  to  be  at  one  end 
ot  the  milky  axis  or  stream,  and  near  the  point  of  divergence 
mto  two  main  branches.     So  says  Humboldt,  Cosmos,  Vol  I 
p.  72 :  —  '  •' 

'' '  We  are  near  this  division.' 

"Indeed  so  exactly  has  Swedenborg  described  this  position 
ot  the  sun's  system,  that  his  declaration  contains  this  positive 
statement :  —  ^ 


310 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


*' '  Our  solar  vortex  is  not  in  the  axis,  but  is  near  the  axis,' 
or  main  stream. 

"  So  say  the  two  Herschels,  Rosse,  Madler,  and  other  as- 
tronomers.    Or  as  the  '  Vestiges  *  has  given  it :  — 

"  '  Our  sun  is  believed  to  be  placed  in  the  southern  portion 
of  the  ring  (milky  zone),  near  its  inner  edge.'  —  p.  2. 

"  Or  as  Sir  J.  Herschel  remarks,  after  visiting  the  southern 
hemisphere,  Phil.  Trans.  1833,  Part  II.,  p.  479,  fig.  25  :  — 

''  '  Our  system  is  placed  eccentrically,  so  as  to  be  much 
nearer  to  the  parts  about  the  cross,  than  to  that  diametrically 
opposed  to  it.' 

''  This  confirms  the  wonderful  exactness  of  Swedenborg's 
statement." — Intellectual  Repository^  Jan.  1850. 


5.     The  Stability  of  the  Solar  System. 

Swedenborg,  according  to  Mr.  Beswick,  develops  the  fol- 
lowing proposition :  ''  As  the  solar  system  is  carried  along 
the  milky  path,  and  afterwards  compelled  to  diverge  there- 
from, the  planetary  orbits  will  cliange  their  form  and  eccen- 
tricity to  a  certain  amount,  and  then  return  to  their  original 
condition,  when  they  will  again  change,  and  again  return,  and 
so  on  to  eternity." — Principia,  Part  III.,  chap,  i,  n.  5,  6. 

Mr.  B.  continues  :  '"  The  beautiful  demonstration  by  La 
Grange*  of  the  stability  of  the  solar  system,  is  a  direct  proof 
of  Swedenborg's  theorem.  The  changes  in  the  character  of 
the  planetary  orbits,  spoken  of  in  the  proposition,  were  already 
known  and  seen  at  work  undermining  the  present  form  of  the 
system,  and  fears  were  entertained  that  they  might  become 
exorbitantly  great,  so  as  to  subvert  those  relations  which  ren- 
der it  habitable  to  man.  Tliis  was  a  difficulty  which  appeared 
insurmountable  to  the  astronomers  of  Swedenborg's  day,  and 
for  some  time  afterwards.  Theologians  everywhere  accepted 
it  as  an  obvious  demonstration  of  their  doctrine  of  the  final 


SWEDENB0RG*S   ASTRONOMICAL  THEORIES. 


311 


♦  Memoirs  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  BerUn,  1777. 


destruction   of  all   things.      Newton  and  Leibnitz  had  both 
bowed  with  submission  to  the  order  of  things,  which  was 
winding  up  the  operations  of  the  great  whole,  and  bringing  on 
an  inevitable  doom.     Geometers,  philosopliers,  and  theologians, 
accepted  the  fact  as  evidence  of  the  common  declaration,  '  that 
the  end  of  all  things,'  if  not  at  hand,  was  at  least  certain. 
Everywhere  the  profoundest  mathematical  resources  were  em- 
ployed to  their  utmost  limits,  but  the  equation  on  one  side 
always  equalled  nothing,  and  the  quantities  only  seemed  to 
converge  without  the  slightest  possibility  of  their  openkig  out, 
and  again  returning  to  a  new   development  of  being.     Only 
one  bright,  refreshing  spot  existed  like  an  oasis,  where  weary 
man,  had  he  known  it,  might  have  refreshed  himself;  and 
that  was  the  Principia  of  Swedenborg.     There  alone,  amongst 
all  the  works  of  his  period,  is  shown  the  now  accepted  doctrine 
of  a  cyclar  return.     At  length.  La  Grange  appears  with  a 
demonstration,  grounded  on  the  discovery  of  a  certain  relation 
which  prevails  in  the   system,  between  the   masses,  orbital 
axes,  and  eccentricities  ;  by  which  the  doctrine  is  completely 
established,  that  though  the  solar  system  is  liable  to  certain 
mutations  in  the  form  and  eccentricity  of  its  orbits,  of  very 
long  periods,  yet  its  orbits  return  again  exactly  to  what  they 
originally  were,  oscillating  between  very  narrow  limits.     The 
same  matter  has  been  recently  investigated  by  Le  Verrier,  with 
the  same  successful  results.*     So  that  the  doctrine  of  a  cyclar 
return  in  the  form  of  the  solar  system,  first  propounded  by  Swe- 
denborg, is  now  received  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  concep- 
tions of  man,  under  the  name  of  La  Grange's  Theory  of  the 
Stability  of  the  Solar  System.f 

"  There  is,  however,  this  superiority  in  Swedenborg's  theory, 
it  not  only  explains  the  doctrine  of  a  cyclar  return,  but  also 
most  satisfactorily  exhibits  the  reason  why  it  is  so,  bringing 


♦  Taylor's  Scientific  Memoirs,  Part  18. 

t  "After  Newton's  discovery,"  says  Professor  Playfair,  "  of  the  ellip- 
tical orbits  of  the  planets.  La  Gra7ige's  discovery  of  their  periodical 
(or  cyclar)  inequalities  is  without  doubt  the  noblest  truth  in  physical 
astronomy." 


; 


312 


SWEDENBORG  S    ASTRONO^flCAL   THEORIES. 


the  philosophy  down  to  the  very  senses,  by  telling  you,  Prt/i- 
cipia,  Part.  III.,  chap,  i.,  n.  1  : — 

"  '  In  the  magnet  and  its  sphere  there  is  a  type  of  the  heav- 
ens :  a  mundane  system  in  miniature  presented  to  our  senses ; ' — 
the  philosophy  being  stated  where  it  is  referred  to  in  the 
proposition  to  these  remarks  ;  this  proposition  declaring,  that 
this  doctrine  of  cyclar  return  is  grounded  on  the  changes  and 
mutations  in  the  form  of  the  whole  svstem,  considered  as  a 
unit  or  globular  vortex,  in  being  bent  in  various  directions, 
and  a^in  unfolding  itself,  according  as  it  happens  to  be  either 
passing  in  or  out,  or  along  the  stream  of  the  milky  way  ;  the 
latter  being  considered  in  the  light  of  a  magnetic  axis.  .  .  . 
Nothing  now  remains  but  to  establish,  that  these  secular  out- 
standing changes  are  dependent  on,  and  due  to,  the  translatory 
motion  of  the  solar  system. 

"  Hitherto,  astronomers  have  admitted  only  the  doctrine 
that  quantity  of  matter  is  the  only  standard  of  the  amount  of 
attractive  force  ;  but  now,  another  is  added  to  their  formula. 
Specific  forces  of  attraction,  coming  from  adjacent  and  sur- 
rounding systems,  which  act  additionally  to  those  belonging 
to,  and  arising  out  of  the  system  itself,  thereby  causing  addi- 
tional and  unaccountable  changes  in  the  form  and  situation  of 
the  system,  producing  translatory  motions  in  space,  —  these 
specific  forces  are  now,  for  the  first  time,  taken  into  consider- 
ation. Bessel^  the  great  Konigsberg  astronomer,  was  '  the 
first  to  conjecture,'  Cosmos,  vol.  i.,  page  137,  and  practically 
apply  this  idea  to  the  solution  of  planetary  disturbances.  The 
solution  is  similar  in  character  to  that  given  by  Laplace  to 
solve  the  discovery  of  Halley,  in  regard  to  the  secular  accel- 
eration of  the  moon's  mean  motion,  at  the  rate  of  eleven  sec- 
onds in  a  century.  Every  change  in  the  form  of  the  earth's 
orbii,  causes  one  in  the  distance  and  periodic  time  of  the  moon. 
So  also  with  the  sun  and  its  system  ;  every  change  in  the  form 
of  the  orbit  of  the  sun,  causes  a  change  in  the  distances  and 
forms  of  orbits  throughout  its  system.  Accordingly,  Bessel 
has  proved,  in  an  article  entitled  '  An  Investigation  of  the 
Planetary  Disturbances  depending  on  the  Motion  of  the  Sun,' 
Abh.  der  Berlin  Acad.,  1824,  b.  2-6,  that  secular  inequal- 
ities are  produced  by  this  motion,  and  are  due  solely  to  its 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


313 


influence  ;  therefore,  they  change  with  the  relative  situation  of 
the  solar  system  among  the  stars  ;  and  that,  with  the  return 
of  the  whole  solar  system  to  the  same  position  in  its  orbit,  and 
amongst  the  same  stars,  the  whole  planetary  system  will  be 
brought  to  its  original  form  and  condition.  ...  See  also 
Mayer  in  Comment.  Soc.  Reg.  Gotting.,  1804-1808,  vol.  xvi., 
pp.  31-68,  and  Arago  in  the  Aunuaire,  1842,  pp.  388-399. 
*'  Thus  the  whole  theory  of  Swedenborg  is  capable  of  actual 
demousir&iion:'— Intellectual  Repository,  for  Jan.  1850. 

6.  Nebular  Theories  of  Swedenborg  and  La  Place. 

"  After  the  suggestions  of  Newton  upon  this  subject,  with 
the  existence  of  which  I  know  not  whether  La  Place  was  ac- 
quainted,  it  was  asserted  by  the  latter  that  BufFon  was  the  first 
writer  whom  he  knew,  who,  since  the  discovery  of  the  true  sys- 
tem of  the  world,  had  attempted  to  investigate  the  origin  of 
the  planets  and  satellites.     Now   Swedenborg   published  his 
Principia  in  the  year  1734  ;  that  is  to  say,  ten  years  before 
Buffon  published  his  theory,  and  Bufibn  himself  had  read  Swe- 
denborg's  Principia,  as  may  be  concluded  from  the  circum- 
stance that  a  copy  of  the  Principia  was  not  very  long  since 
sold  by  an  eminent  bookseller  in  London,  (Bohn,  of  Henrietta 
street,  Covent  Garden,)  containing  Buffon's  own  autograph  ; 
therefore,  if  La  Place  himself  was  not  acquainted  with  Swe- 
denboro-'s  treatise,  it  is  reasonable  to  presume  that  Buffon  was. 
Ten  years,  then,  before  Buffon  published  his  theory,  apd  about 
thirty  years  before  La  Place  offered  his  own  to  the  public, 
Swedenborg  had  propounded  his  theory  in  the  Principia,  in 
the  year  1734  ;  and  again  in  his  treatise  on  the  Worship  and 
Love  of  God,  in  the  year  1745,  or  about  twenty  years  before 
La  Place's  theory."  —  Introduction   to  the  Principia,   hy   the 

Translator,  •    t  i,-  i 

'^  This  notable  piece  of  history,"  says  Mr.  Beswick,  "is,  I  thmk, 
somewhat  incorrectly  stated  as  to  dates  :  nevertheless  the  error 
is  in  favor  of  Swedenborg,  and  enhances  the  value  of  the  com- 
parison. It  is  to  be  regretted,  however,  that  the  error  should 
have  crept  into  biographies,  lectures,  reviews,  tracts,  and  peri- 
odicals, both  in  America  and  Europe,  without  .ever  once  being 

27 


314 


SWEDENBORG*S   ASTRONOMICAL   THEORIES. 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


315 


detected.  Swedenborg's  Principia  was  published  in  1734, 
Buffon's  Theorie  de  la  Terre  in  1749,  and  La  Place's  Systeme 
de  Monde  in  1809  ;  therefore  fifteen  (not  i&a)  years  before 
Buifon,  and  seventy-five  (not  thirty)  years  before  La  Place, 
Swedenborg  had  propounded  his  Nebular  Theory  in  the  Prin- 
cipia, 1734.  We  should  bear  in  mind  that  La  Place's  hypoth- 
esis is  only  an  extension  of  the  idea  proposed  by  the  elder  Her- 
schel  in  1802,  and  was  of  course  published  subsequently.  .  .  . 

'^  The  honor  of  conceiving  and  publishing  the  first  crude 
notion  of  heavenly  bodies  being  formed  from  nebulous  vapors, 
belongs  unquestionably  to  Tycho  Brahe  and  Kepler  ;  (see 
Arago  in  the  Annuaire  1842,  p.  434,)  therefore,  long  ante- 
cedent to  the  time  of  Swedenborg.  The  hypothesis  appears  to 
have  remained  latent,  through  the  insufficiency  of  well  observed 
data,  until  Halley  came  forward  in  1677,  Swedenborg  in  1734 
(Principia) ^  La  Caille  in  1750-1752  (Mem.  de  VAcad,  des 
Sciences,  1755),  Kant  in  1755  (Structure  of  the  Heavens),  Lam- 
bert in  1757  (Cosmogonij) ,  Herschel  in  1799-1802  (Phil, 
Trans,  vol.  92),  and  lastly  La  Place  in  1809  (Systeme  de 
Monde),  who  gave  to  the  Nebular  Hypothesis  its  present  elab- 
orate structure.  The  idea  of  heavenly  bodies  being  formed 
from  nebulous  vapors,  therefore,  preceded  Swedenborg,  and 
upon  this  one  point  Swedenborg  is  merely  one  in  the  foremost 
rank  of  its  brilliant  advocates. 

"  Hence  the  crude  idea  out  of  which  the  Nebular  Hypoth- 
esis has  sprung,  was  not  originally  suggested  by  the  elder 
Herschel,  as  it  is  sometimes  thought,  but  it  was  developed  and 
embodied  by  him.  He  gathered  together  the  material,  and 
laid  tlie  foundations.  In  the  irresolvable  class  of  nebulae,  he 
thought  he  had  discovered  evidence  of  the  existence  of  nebu- 
lous matter  :  and  by  classifying  his  objects,  and  thus  marshal- 
ling them  under  the  old  nebulous  hypothesis,  was  led  to  believe 
that  primordial  matter,  scattered  over  space,  underwent  a  pro- 
cess of  condensation  or  aggregation  into  masses,  by  the  power 
of  attraction.  Hence,  in  reviewing  the  then  irresolvable 
nebulae,  the  progressive  character  in  the  shapes  of  the  extra- 
ordinary objects  which  his  researches  disclosed,  seemed  to 
demonstrate  the  old  hypothesis  of  star-formation  from  cosmical 
vapor.     At   this   point  La   Place  took  up  the  matter ;   and 


suf'gested  such  an  extension  of  the  original  idea,  as  to  consti- 


K 


tute  what  is  now  popularly  known  as  the  Nebular  Hypothesis, 
A  marked  distinction  must,  therefore,  be  made,  entirely  sepa- 
rating  the   original  idea  as  propounded  by   Tycho,   Kepler, 
Halley,  Swedenborg,  and  the  elder  Herschel,  from  the  extensions 
proposed  by  La  Place.     Insomuch  so  has  this  necessity  been 
seen,  that  the  younger  Herschel  has  entered  his  protest  against 
the  proposed  alliance.     (Athenoium,  June,  1845,  p.  615.)     Sir 
J.  Herschel  is  in  ftict  an  advocate  of  the  original  hypothesis, 
which,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  identical  with  Swedenborg's  theory. 
Yea,  more ;  the  extensions  proposed  by  Swedenborg  are  not 
only  agreeable,  and    consort  with  the  ideas  of  the  younger 
Herschel,  Rosse,  Humboldt,  and  others,  but  are  also  being 
confirmed  by  recent  discoveries  in  sidereal  astronomy,  and  by 
other  considerations  to  which  we  shall  refer  hereafter.     Whilst 
the  extensions  proposed  by  La  Place,  as  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  show,  have  not  a  single  illustration,  yea,  not  a  single  fact  to 
rest  upon  within  the  range  of  our  ordinary  experience,  nor 
within  the  far  mightier  range  of  our  best  instruments.     But  it 
is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  at  this   stage  of  the  inquiry  to 
record  the  fact,  that  four   years  before  Herschel  was  born 
(1738),  fifteen  years  before  Buffon's  theory  (1749),  and  sev- 
enty-five years  before  La  Place's  hypothesis  (1809),  Sweden- 
borg had  published  illustrations  of  the  formation  of  belts  and 
zones,  their  disruption  and  ultimate  formation  into  revolving 
spheroids  and  cometary  bodies  ;  and  had  distributed  the  im- 
mortal work  (Principia)  in  which  the  Hypothesis  is  given, 
over  the  whole  of  Europe,  and  had  presented  copies  of  it  to 
the  most  important  institutions  and  savans. 

"  We  now  proceed  to  place  the  two  theories  side  by  side, 
and  afterwards  to  form  a  comparative  estimate  of  the  probable 
truthfulness  of  each,  and  of  their  scientific  value  as  aids  to 
Theoretic  Astronomy. 


1  I 


316 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


NEBULAR    THEORIES. 


Stcederiborg  in  1734. 

That  the  second  elementary  particles 
are  most  highly  compressed  near   the 
Solar  active  space  ....  In  this  manner 
the  number  and  quantity  more  and  more 
increase  by  reason  of  the  successive  com- 
pression of  the  elcmentarics;  and  also 
condense  themselves    round    the    solar 
space.    That  the  finites  thus  concrete 
into  an    immense   volume,  and  crowd 
around  and  enclose  the  sun  in  such  a 
maimer  as  to  form  an  incrustation  .... 
That  nevertheless  this  crust  which  'is 
formed  around  the  sun,  is  rotated  in  a 
certain  gyre.  .  .  .  That  this  crustaceous 
matter  being  endowed  with  a  continual 
gyratory  motion  round  the  sun,  in  the 
course  of  time  removes  itself  farther  and 
farther  from  the  active  space;   and,  in 
so  removing  itself,  occupies  a  larger  cir- 
cle of  space,  and  consequently  becomes 
gradually  attenuated,  till  it  can  no  lon- 
ger contiguously  cohere,  bAt  bursts  in 
some  part  or  other  ....  That  the  so- 
lar crust  being  somewhere  disrupted  on 
the  admission  of  the  vortical  volume, 
collapses  upon  itself;  and  this  towards 
the  zodiacal  circle  of  the  vortex ;  so  that 
it  surrounds  the  sun  like  a  belt  or  broad 
circle;   that  this  belt,  which  is  formed 
by  the  collapse  of  the  crustaceous  ex- 
panse,  gyrates   in  a  like  manner;    re- 
moves itself  to  a  farther  distance;  and 
by  its  removal  becomes  attenuated  till  it 
bursts  and  forms  into  larger  and  smaller 
globes ;  that  is  to  say,  forms  planets  and 
satellites  of  various  dimensions,  but  of  a 
spherical  figure  ....  That  this   crus- 
taceous expanse  may  subside  partly  into 
itself:   that  it  may  partly  subside  in- 
wardly, or  toward  the  solar  space,  and 
thus  revolve  itself  round   some  active 
space;  that  it  partly  subsides  exteriorly 
or  toward  the  vortex.    Thus  that  there 
may  exist  bodies  of  three  different  kinds, 
namely  plan-jts,  satellites,  and  erratic 
bodies  straying  round  the  sun,  such  as 
we  are  accustomed  to  denominate  solar 
spots  ....  That  these  bodies,  separ- 
ated into  globes,  direct  their  course  into 
the  vortical  current,  according  to  their 
magnitude  and  weight;  that  they  con- 
tinue more  and  more  to  elongate  their 
distances  from  the  sun,  until  they  arrive 
at  their  destined  periphery  or  orbit  in  the 
Bolar  Vortex,  where  they  are  in  equi- 
librium with  the  volume  of  the  vortex. 


La  Place  in  1809. 

Whatever  be  its  nature,  since  it  has 
produced  or  directed  the  motion  of  the 
planets  and  their  satellites,  it  (the  sun) 
must  have  embraced  all  these  bodies, 
and  considering  the  prodigious  distance 
which  separates  them,  they  can  only  be 
a  fluid  of  immense  extent.  To  have 
given,  in  tne  same  direction,  a  motion 
nearly  circular  round  the  sun,  this  fluid 


to  think,  that  in  consequence  of  exces- 
sive heat,  the  atmosphere  of  the  sun  orig- 
inally extended  beyond  the  orbits  of 
i:ll  the  planets,  and  tliat  it  has  gradually 
contracted  itseif  to  its  present  limits  .  .  . 
But  how  has  it  determined  the  motions 
of  revolution  and  rotation  of  the  planets  ? 
If  these  bodies  had  penetrated  this  fluid, 
its  resistance  would  have  caused  them 
to  fall  into  the  sun.  We  may  then  con- 
jecture, that  they  have  been  formed  at 
the  successive  bounds  of  this  atmosphere, 
by  the  condensation  of  zones,  which  it 
must  have  abandoned  in  the  plane  of  its 
equator,  and  in  becoming  cold  have  con- 
densed themselves  towards  the  surlace 
of  this  luminary.  One  may  likewise 
conjecture,  that  the  satellites  have  been 
formed  in  a  similar  way  by  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  phmiitB.—Systeme  de  MondCj 
vol.  ii.,  p.  362. 

La  Place  conjectures  that  in  the  origi- 
nal condition  of  the  solar  system,  the 
sun  revolved  upon  his  axis  surrounded 
by  an  atmosphere  which,  in  virtue  of  an 
excessive  heat,  extended  far  beyond  the 
orbits  of  all  the  planets,  the  planets  as 
yet  having  no  existence.    The  heat  grad- 
ually diminished,  and  as  the  solar  atmos- 
phere contracted  by  cooling,  the  rapidity 
of  rotation  increased  by  the  laws  of  ro- 
tatory motion,  and  an  exterior  zone  of 
vapor  was  detached  frjm  the  rest,  the 
central  attraction  being  no  longer  able 
to  overcome  the  increased  centrifugal 
force.    This  zone  of  vapor  might  in  some 
cases  retain  its  form,  as  we  see  it  in  Sat- 
urn's ring;    but  more  usually  the  ring 
of  vapor  would  break  into  several  mass- 
es, and  these  would  coalesce  into  one 
mass,  which  would  revolve  about  the 
sun.    Such  portions  of  the  solar  atmos- 
phere, abandoned  successively  at  differ- 
ent distances,  would  form  planets  in  a 
state  of  vapor.    These  masses  of  vapor, 
it  appears  from  mechanical  considera- 
tions, would  each  have  a  rotatory  mo- 
tion, and  as  the  cooling  of  the  vapor 
went  on,  would  each  produce  a  planet, 
which  might  have  satellites  and  rings, 
formed  from  the  planet  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  the  planets  were  formed  from 
tlie  atmosphere  of  the  sun.— WheweWs 
Bridgewater  lYeative,  p.  181. 


SWEDENBORG*S   ASTRONOMICAL   THEORIES. 


317 


"  Now  tlie  essential  distinction  between  these  two  theories 
consists  in  the  difference  between  the  two  preponderatiiio-  cos- 
mical  forces  employed  to  effect  the  genetic  development  of 
planetary  and  solar  systems.     Swedeuborg  adopts  the  centri- 
fugal force,  and  La  Place  the  centripetal.    Swedenborg  expands 
his  system  from  the  centre  to  the  circumference,  and  La  Place 
contracts  his  system  from  the  circumference  to  the  centre. 
With  these  exceptions,  the  main  features  of  the  two  theories 
are  alike.     Both  begin  with  atmospheric  incrustation  of  cooler 
and  denser   materials  around   the  solar  surface;    its  greater 
accumulation  from  the  polar  to  the  equatorial  plane,  foi-ming 
a  belt   or  zone ;  the  separation  of  the  central  body  from  its 
zone  by  the  rotary  or  centrifugal  force  of  the  former  ;  and 
the  disruption  of  zones  into  planetary  bodies.     Thus  the  main 
features  of  the   two  systems  are  alike :  planetary  bodies  are 
affirmed  to  have  their  genetic  development  from  the  condensa- 
tion of  solar   superficial  matter  into  zones  :  thus,  that  both 
classes  of  bodies  have  an  identical  origin,   and  formed  one 
mass.     We  now  proceed  to  a  critical  examination  of  the  two 
theories. 


La   Place's   Theory. 

"  Origin  of  Rotary  Motion. —  It  is  affirmed  by  the  advo- 
cates of  this  theory  to  be  a  well-known  law  in  physics,  '  that 
when  gaseous  or  fluid  matter  collects  towards  or  meets  in  a 
centre,  it  establishes  a  rotation.*  Upon  this  mechanical  law 
the  whole  theory  is  based,  and  hence  the  necessity  of  giving  it 
the  most  comprehensive  and  obvious  demonstration  from  well- 
known  matters  of  fact.  We  are  reminded,  by  a  glance  at  our 
books,  of  the  many  eminent  names  that  have  been  recorded 
on  the  list  of  those  who  advocate  it  with  more  than  ordinary 
acquirements.  Yet  wc  have  no  hesitation  in  giving  this  fun- 
damental principle  of  the  Nebular  Theory  the  most  imquali- 
fied  denial :  there  is  no  such  a  law^  of  physics  in  existence,  nor 
a  single  fact  in  nature  upon  Avhich  it  can  be  based,  or  by 
which  it  can  be  illustrated.  We  are  more  than  astonished  at 
the  profound  talents  of  La  Place,  as  a  physical  philosopher, 
establishing  his  theory  on  so  questionable  a  foundation  as  the 
law  cited   above.     Whirlwinds   and   whirlpools,   eddies   and 

27* 


318 


SWEDENBORG's   ASTRONOSnCAL   THEORIES. 


dimples,   are   no  proofs  of  such  a  law,  althougli  'commonly 
cited  as  illustrations  :  air  and  water  in  these  cases  do  not  col- 
lect from  every  point  to  a  centre.     There  is  no  resemblance  ia 
the  two  cases  :  the  nebulous  case  supposes  that  the  cosmical 
vapor  collects  from  all  quarters,  as  if  it  came  from  the  surface 
of  a  sphere  or  globe.     In  our  astronomical  and  meteorological 
observation  we  have   oftentimes  had  occasion  to  watch  with 
intense  interest  the  formation  of  vapory  clouds  by  conden. -nation, 
or  by  collecting  together  from  all  sides  towards  a  centre  :  we 
have  condensed  gaseous  vapor  of  some  of  the  most  important 
substances:    we    have   compressed  water   so  uniformly  from 
every  side,  as  to  bring  the  central  point  of  resistance  to  the 
centre  of  the  mass  ;  and  in  every  case,  we  have  found  it  a 
well-known  physical  law,  '  that  when  fluid  or  gaseous  matter 
collects  towards  or  meets  in  a  centre,'  it  establishes  not  rota- 
tion, but  perfect  immobility.     Indeed  there  is  no  single  phy- 
sical cause  that  would  so  effectually  put  an  end  to  rotation  if 
It  existed,  as  the  concentration  or  collecting  together  of  the 
particles,   from    all   sides  of  the   general   m^ass,"  towards   its 
centre.     There  is  not  the  slightest  resemblance  between  the 
examples  generally  adduced  in   support  of  this   theory,   an.d 
the  nebulous  case  they  are  intended  to  illustrate.     And  '  the 
well-known  physical  law  '  said  to  originate  the  rotation,   is 
the  very  best  '  well-known  law '  that  could  be  cited  to  prove 
that  rotation  cannot  result  from  the  case  supposed. 

"  The  formation  of  common  clouds  has  the  greatest  resem- 
blance of  anything   in  nature   to  the   formation  of  cosmical 
clouds  as  held  by  the  theory  :  yet,  who  ever  saw  rotary  motion 
in  a  condensing  cloud  ?     Let  us  examine  this  point  more  min- 
utely.    Every  particle  is  supposed   to  be  drawn  together  by 
attraction,  and  the  radial  forces  in  this  case  cannot  1be  other- 
wise than  equal  on  all  sides,  and  in  a  state   of  equilibrium, 
since    it    acts    according    to    the    square    of    the    distance! 
Whirlwinds  and  whirlpools,  and  other  similar  instances,  are 
proofs  that  only  two  or  more  radial  forces  have  met  or  col- 
lected  together  ;  but  where  radial  forces  are  converging  from 
every  direction  to  a  common  focus  or  centre,  then  rotation 
cannot  result.     The  merest  tyro  in  physical  science  might  suc- 
cessfully undertake  to  demonstrate,  that  where  rotation  reaUy 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


319 


exists  from  impact  or  confluence  of  radial  forces,  such  impact 
at  the  focus  of  confluence  is  not  in  the  direction  of  the  centre 
of  gravity  of  the  mass,  thus  brought  together  by  attraction  as 
affirmed  by  this  theory,  since  then  their  radial  force  would 
have  been  in  the  direction  of  the  centre  of  gravity.  There  is 
emphatically  no  such  law  in  physics  as  that  upon  which  this 
theory  is  based.  All  the  examples  are  cases  wherein  gaseous 
or  fluid  matter  is  supposed  to  move  in  one  and  the  same 
general  plane  ;  as  from  two  or  more  points  of  the  periphery  of 
a  circle  to  its  centre  :  whilst  the  theory  itself  supposes  a  case 

where  gaseous  matter  comes  from  every  possible  direction 

above,  below,  and  on  all  sides.  Our  objection  constitutes  a 
dilemma,  from  which  there  is  no  escape.  The  first  horn 
affirms,  that  there  is  no  instance  in  nature  of  rotation  result- 
ing from  the  convergence  of  radial  forces  in  every  direction, 
and  that  the  examples  upon  which  it  is  based  have  no  resem- 
blance to  the  nebulous  case  itself.  The  second  horn  affirms, 
that  rotation  cannot  possibly  result  from  a  convergence  of 
radial  forces  coming  in  every  direction  from  a  periphery  to  a 
centre. 

"The   Hypothesis    supposes   the    existence    of   spheroidal 
masses  of  vapor  aggregating  or  consolidating  themselves  to  a 
centre  by  virtue  of  attraction.     This  was  the  original  hypo- 
thesis of  Herschel,  and  here  he  left  it.     But  La  Place  extended 
it  by  adding  a  '  well-known  law,'  and  basing  it  upon  examples 
which  have  no  more  connection  with  the  original  hypothesis 
than  a  flat  circular  plate  has  with  a  globe  or  sphere.     For 
whilst  it  is  obvious  that  Herschel  considered  he  was  dealing 
with  spheroidal  masses  of  nebulous  vapor,  it  is  equally  obvious 
that  La  Place  and  followers  considered  they  were  dealing  with 
flat  planes  of  vapor.      We  have  no  hesitation  in  affirming, 
that  the  origin  of  motion,  according  to  the  Nebular  Theory  of 
La  Place,  is  a  mathematical  and  physical  impossibility.     Be- 
yond the  question  of  origin  we  need  not  go,  since  the  whole 
superstructure  falls  with  it. 


320 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


Swedenborg's   Theory. 

"  With  Swedcnborg's  Theory  the  case  is  otherwise.  We 
have  seen  that  rotary  motion  must  spring  from  an  inliercut 
force  in  the  nebulous  matter  itself,  since  it  cannot  possibly 
arise  from  a  radial  force  originating  from  without.  Accord- 
ingly, this  philosopher  holds  the  theory,  that  nebulous  matter 
consists  of  substances  or  elements  having  an  inherent  vortical 
tendency,  force,  or  activity;  which  causes  it,  whilst  aggre- 
gating, to  be  impressed  with  a  vortical  tendency  throughout  its 
raass^  and  a  general  consent  to  move  vortically  in  a  mass. 
This  necessarily  gives  rise  to  poles  and  axes  :  thus  to  rotary 
motion  about  an  axis.  We  now  proceed  to  consider  the  Swe- 
denborgian  Theory  more  in  detail. 

"  In  looking  at  the  Solar  System  as  a  whole,  the  sun  is 
seen  to  have  both  a  central  position  and  a  central  force ;  and 
the  attendant  luminaries  forming  its  system  are  seen  to  increase 
the  velocity  of  their  orbital  fluxion  as  they  are  nearer  the  body 
in  which  resides  this  central  force. 

''This  clearly  proves  that  planetary  motion  literally  depends 
on  solar  motion  ;  that  the  sun's  axillary  force  originates  all 
orbital  motion  in  the  system  :  and  that  the  origin  of  motion  in 
a  revolving  unsolid  mass  must  be  more  active  than  the  mass 
itself. 


Days. 
Sun  ....  25.34000 
Mercury  .  .  .  87.0(;it28 
Venus  ....  224.70078 
Earth  .  .  .  .  365.25G37 
Mars     ....     68G.900G4 


Asteroids 
Jupiter . 
Saturn  . 
Uranus  . 
Neptune 


Days. 

1618.00000 

4332.58480 

10759.21981 

30G8G.82051 

C012G.  70000 


"  The  origin  of  motion  having  the  greatest  force,  must  have 
tlie  greatest  velocity.  So  universal  is  this  physical  condition, 
that^it  is  equally  applicable  to  revolving  musses  whose  origins 
of  motion  are  some  in  the  centre,  and  others  in  the  circumfer- 
ence. If  the  motion  begin  in  the  circumference,  the  centre  will 
have  the  least  velocity  ;  but  if  it  begin  in  the  centre,  the  circum- 
ference will  have  the  least  velocity.  This  simple  physical  law 
is  alone  sulhcient  to  set  aside  the  Nebular  Theory  of  La 
Place,  and  establish  the  theory  proposed  by  Swedenborg.     If 


8WEDENB0RG*S  ASTRONOMICAL  THEORIES. 


821 


the  ibrmtrr  were  true,  then  the  central  body,  the  sun,  ought 
to  have  had  the  least  velocity  of  rotation,  wdiich  is  the  reverse 
of  the  fact.     The  graduation  of  motion  from  the  centre  to  the 
circumference,  or  the  reverse,  determines  the  origin  of  motion 
to  be  in  or  not  in  the  centre  of  the  revolving  mass.     If  there 
be  diminished  velocity,  then  the  origin  of  motion  is  within,  but 
if  there  be  an  increasing  velocity  from  the  centre,  then  the 
origin  is  extraneous.     In  the  Solar  System  the  centre  has 
the  greatest  velocity  ;  therefore  the  motion  is  from  a  central 
force  in  the  Sun.     The  Laplacian  Theory  is  demolished  by 
this  simple  law^  and  the  Swedenborgian  Theory  established 
thereby.     We  cannot  here  enter  into  an  exposition  of  this 
central  origin  of  planetary  fluxion  ;  this  will  be  done  when  we 
come  to  speak  of  the  physical  condition  of  the  sun.      Suffi- 
cient for  our  present  purpose  is  the  elicitation  of  the  fact,  that 
the  origin  of  orbital  fluxion  is  in  the  sun  itself;  and  that  the 
primal   force   from   which   all   motion  is   derived,  including 
axillary  motion,  is  in  the  sun  ;  that  it  has,  therefore,  the  cause 
of  its  own  motion,  and  of  the  motion  of  its  system,  dwelling 
in  itself.     Or  as  Swedenborg  expresses  it :    «  The  Solar  Ocean 
existing  in  the  middle  of  the  vortex  is  the  fountain  of  all  the 
motions  which  take  place  between  the  parts   constituent  of 
the  world.'— Pn'napa,  Part  I.,  chap,  x.,  n.  1. 

"  Nothing  is  more  certain  as  a  law  of  being  than  this ;  that 
the  forces  which  sustain  this  mighty  piece  of  mechanism  are 
the  same  as  those  which  brought  it  into  being.     Herein  lies  the 
great  theoretic  problem.  What  are  these  forces  ?     We  have 
already  shown  that  centrifugal  force  is  obviously  only  an  out^ 
ward  development  of  an  indwelling  force  in  the  solar  mass ; 
and  gravitating  force  is  not  a  formative  force,  since  it  would 
permit  of  the  system  being  any  shape,  structure,  number  of 
parts,  or  kind  of  motion.     For  instance :  As  all  the  planets 
move  in  nearly  the  same  plane  with  the  sun,  the  gravitating 
force  had  nothing  to  do  with  this.     It  had  nothing  to  do  with 
distributing  cometary  orbits  there  and  planetary  orbits  here : 
making  the  first  extra-zodiacal,  and  the  latter  zodiacal.     Plan- 
etary orbits  are  circular,  but  cometary  orbits  are  eccentric  ; 
gravitation  had  nothing  to  do  with  this,  since  it  would  have 
allowed  planetary  motion  in   any  kind  of  ellipse,   however 


'\ 


322 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


elongated.     The  planets  all  revolve   round   the   sun   in  the 
same  direction  ;  and  what  is  most  strange,  they  rotate  on  their 
axis  in  the  same  direction  as  that  in  which  they  revolve  in 
their  orbits.     Now  Gravitation  had  nothing  to  do  with  all  this 
uniformity  of  fluxion  :  this  came  from  a  formative  or  directive 
force,  siuce  gravitation  would  have  permitted  them  to  have 
followed  any  and   even  the  most  diverse  directions.     These 
different  facts,  comprising  the  essential  features  of  the  system, 
were  totally  irrespective  of  the  operation  of  this  force :  and  to 
account  for  them  the  Laplacian  Hypothesis  was  originally  pro- 
posed.    It  was  suggested  that  the  different  orbs  had  come  into 
their  present  conditiou  and  location  by  the  condensation  of  the 
solar  mass,  which  is  supposed  to  have  originally  extended  to 
the  extremities  of  the  system,  and  to  have  filled  in  volume  the 
whole    solar   region:    but   that   during    condensation,   rings 
or  belts  of  solar  matter  were  successively  abandoned  in  the 
plane  of  the   zodiac,  which,   on  breaking  up,  collapsed,  and 
formed  globes  or  planets.     But  one   important  condition  is 
overlooked  in  this  hypothesis,  that  the  mass  is  in  a  progressive 
state  of  collapse  and  condensation  upon  the  centre.     Now  we 
think  that  this  is  the  best  possible  conservative  condition  for 
a  ring  to  be  in  ;  for  every  tendency  to  breakage  would  be  re- 
move°l  and  compensated  by  the  parts  being  brought  closer 
together,  or  what  is  the  same,  by  the  condensation  and  col- 
lapse into  a  less  circle,  and  consequent  fall  upon  the  centre. 
On  the  contrary,  how  very  simple  and  natural  is  the  Sweden- 
borgian   Theory!      The    belts  arc  supposed   to    expand  and 
enlarge,  thereby  increasing  their  diameter,  until  they  must 
break  by  attenuation  alone.     We  now  proceed  to  consider  this 
Hypothesis  under  the  three  following  phases  ;— 

I.  Formation  of  the  Solar  Mass  or  Sun  from  Nebulous 

Matter. 

II.  Formation  of  the  Solar  Crust,  and  its  disruption  mto 

Planetary  Bodies. 

III.  The  Distribution  of  Orbs  into  a  Solar  System. 

I.  Formation  of  the  Solar  Mass  or  Sun  from  Nebulous  Matter. 
— "  The  original  Nebular  Theory,  referred  to  above  as  being 
held  by  Tycho  Brahe,  Kepler,  Halley,  and  Herschel,  is  pre- 


swedeneorg's  astronomical  theories. 


323 


cisely  similar  to  Swedeuborg's,  so  far  as  it  goes.  And  even 
the  younger  Herschel,  whilst  he  protests  against  the  extensions 
of  La  Place,  and  admits  the  resolving  power  of  Rosse's  mighty 
instrument,  yet  affirms  his  belief  in  the  original  theory  ;  °and 
thus  so  far  agrees  with  the  fundamental  idea  of  the  Sweden- 
borgian  Hypothesis,  which  affirms  the  existence  of  primordial 
elements  and  nebulous  matter  aggregating  into  a  solar  mass, 
and  becommg  a  sun  or  nebulous  star.     He  observes  : — 

"  *  The  existence  of  a  luminous  matter  disseminated  through 
wide  regions  of  space  in  a  vaporous  or  cloud-like  state,  un- 
dergoing or  awaiting  the  slow  process  of  aggregation  into 
masses  by  the  power  of  gravitation,  was  originally  suggested 
to  the  late  Sir  W.  Herschel  in  his  reviews  of  the  nebulee  by 
those  extraordinary  objects  his  researches  have  disclosed.  .  .  . 
This  part  of  my  father's  general  views  of  the  construction  of 
the  heavens,  therefore,  being  entirely  distinct  from  what  has 
of  late  been  called  •'  the  nebulous  hypothesis,"  will  still  subsist 
as  a  matter  of  rational  and  philosophical  speculation,— and 

perhaps  all  the  better  for  being  separated  from  the  other.' 

Athenceum,  June  21,  1845,  p.  615. 

"  Swedenborg  also  advocated  the  existence  of  nebulous  va- 
por from  elements  [?],  which  by  aggregation  formed  a  vor- 
tex ;  but  that  they  formed  a  vortex,  when  aggregating,  by 
virtue  of  their  own  inherent  vortical  motions,  which  dispose 

them  to  fall  into  a  motion  in  one  common  direction.    He  says : 

"  '  That  in  the  state  of  the  formation  of  the  vortex  among 
the  elements,  as  they  are  growing  by  accretion  into  an  immense 
sphere  or  volume,  no  other  form  was  needed  than  a  certain 
active   centre  ;  moreover,  that  the  elements  themselves  would 
spontaneously  dispose  themselves  into  a  general  motion  con- 
formable to  the   figure  of  the  parts  ;  and  that  by  means  of 
the  action  which  takes  place  in  the  centre,  they  would  perpet- 
ually continue  this  motion  both  as  to  each  particle,  and  also  as 
to  the  whole  volume.     If  in  a  sphere  of  elements  there  be  a 
centre  of  motion,  or  an  active  centre,  the  parts  which  are  near- 
est the  centre  come  into  a  state  of  greater  compression  (through 
the  central  action  on  them)  than  the   parts  which  are  more 
remote  ;  consequently  there  is  an  attempt  of  each  particle  to 
flow  into  a  gyre  produced  by  its  compression  ;  the  degree  of 


324 


SWEDENBORGS   ASTRONOMICAL   THEORIES. 


which  is  proportioned  to  the  distance  from  the  centre  .... 
Hence  if  there  be  a  centre,  and  a  force  of  activity  in  the  centre, 
the  elementary  particles  dispose  themselves,  by  a  mechanical 
necessity,  into  gyres  conformable  to  their  distance  from  the 
centre  ;  that  is  to  say,  into  a  vortical  motion.' — Princifia^ 
Part  I.,  chap,  x.,  n.  6. 

"  Hence  when  the  nebulous  matter  is  in  its  first  period,  or 
when  being  formed  into  a  solar  mass,  ....  the  grosser 
or  least  active  would  obviously  form  a  vortical  sphere  of 
increasing  density  towards  the  centre,  where  the  greatest 
density  would  prevail,  consequent  on  compression  or  closer 
contact  from  the  greater  velocity  and  force  of  the  active 
space  within.  Thus  the  matter  of  the  sun  had  then,  and  must 
have  now,  a  vortical  motion,  having  the  greatest  velocity  in 
the  centre  and  least  at  its  surface.  When  we  come  to  speak 
of  the  Physical  Constitution  of  the  sun,  we  shall  show  from 
well-established  data,  and  from  recent  observations,  that  such 
a  vortical  motion  in  the  sun*s  bodily  substance  does  really 
exist,  and  can  be  presented  as  a  well-sustained  fact." 

II.  Formation  of  the  Solar  Crusty  and  its  disruption  into 
Planetary  Bodies. — '^  The  action  of  the  Solar  Mass  being  supe- 
rior to  the  aj?<}jre!iate  re-action  of  the  elements  surroundin^r  it, 
the  former  would  force  the  latter  into  a  more  compact  and 
dense  arrangement :  their  surfaces  being  forced  together,  the 
capability  of  expansion  and  fluxion  would  be  reduced  in  a  like 
ratio,  and  a  compact  and  comparative  inert  mass  would  accu- 
mulate like  unto  a  dense  elementary  crust  or  cloud-envelope, 
which  would  cover  the  whole  solar  superficies.  The  compres- 
sion would  be  greater  near  the  solar  force  than  in  any  otlier 
part  of  the  envelope,  because  there  the  solar  action  would  be 
greatest.  Now  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  the  formation  of  this 
crustaceous  envelope,  the  reader  need  only  conceive  that  in 
the  vortex  surrounding  the  solar  mass  the  elements  become 
individually  more  passive  by  compression  from  within  ;  hence 
they  flow  more  densely  around  the  active  centre,  and  so  form 
a  crustaceous  instead  of  a  diffused  expanse  on  the  solar  face. 

"  '  That  in  this  manner  the  number  and  quantity  of  finites 
(passive  elements)  more  and  more  increase,  by  reason  of  the 
successive  compression  of  the  elementaries  ;  and  also  condense 


> 


SWEDENBORG*S  ASTRONOMICAL   THEORIES. 


325 


themselves  round  the  solar  space.  Tliat  the  finites  (passive 
substances)  thus  concrete  into  an  immense  volume,  and  crowd 
around  and  enclose  the  sun's  in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  an 
incrustation  ;  nor  do  they  cease  to  act  till  the  vortex  be  fully 
formed  ....  In  this  manner  finites  will  be  added  in 
crowds,  and  press  closely  upon  the  active  spaces,  and,  like 
an  extremely  dense  crust  or  cloud,  will  interpose  themselves 
between  the  vortex  which  has  to  be  formed  and  the  solar 
space  ;  thus  also  will  they  intercept  the  immediate  force  of  the 
spaces,  and  its  operation  upon  their  vortex  ;  and  consequently 
will  throw  into  shadow  the  whole  of  the  mundane  system, 
darkening  it  as  by  an  extremely  opaque  cloud,  and  super- 
inducing upon  it  another  and  diflferent  state.'  —  Principia^ 
Part  III.,  chap,  iv.,  n.  3. 

"  And  as  the  internal  activity  continues  supreme,  even  after 
the  vaporous  crust  or  eloud-envelope  is  formed,  it  follows  that 
the  envelope  is  compelled  to  expand  from,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  aggregate  around,  the  active  solar  force  ;  because  it  is 
formed  in  this  very  motion  itself,  or  this  motion  is  going  on 
while  it  is  being  formed.  The  consequences  of  this  expansion 
must  obviously  be  attenuation  of  the  crust,  and  ultimate  dis- 
ruption. 

"  '  This  crustaceous  matter,  being  endowed  with  a  continual 
gyratory  motion  round  the  sun,  in  the  course  of  time  removes 
itself  farther  and  farther  from  the  active  spaces ;  and,  in  so 
removing  itself,  occupies  a  larger  circle  of  space,  and  conse- 
quently becomes  gradually  attenuated,  till  it  can  no  longer 
contiguously  cohere,  but  bursts  in  some  part  or  other  .... 
The  space  within  is  continually  active,  and  incessantly  acts 
upon  the  walls  and  barriers  of  its  prison  :  and  it  is  evident 
that  the  heavy  bodies  in  the  solar  vortex  tend  from  the  centre 
to  the  circumference  ....  Now  if  the  tendency  of  this  crust 
is  to  fly  off  to  a  greater  distance,  it  follows  that  it  must  become 
gradually  attenuated,  because  the  same  volume  occupies  a 
larger  circle.  That  the  expanse  becomes  attenuated  in  conse- 
quence of  forming  a  larger  circle,  is  a  purely  geometrical  fact ; 
as  also,  that  if  it  becomes  attenuated  and  be  in  perpetual 
motion,  it  in  some  part  or  other  becomes  disrupted.' — Ibid.,  n.  5. 
'*  Seeing  that  the  cloud-envelope   encloses  the  sun  on  all 

2S 


i 


326 


SWEDENBORG  S   ASTRONOMICAL   THEORIES. 


> 


SWEDENBORG's   ASTRONOMICAL   THEORIES. 


327 


sides,  it  becomes  an  interesting  point  of  inquiry  as  to  where 
the  first  disruption  exists,  and  whether   sufficient  uniformity 
prevails  in  such  vortical  masses  as  to  predict  with  certainty 
the  exact  spot  where  it   may  be  definitely  expected.      The 
problem  of  disruptive  location,  or  the  precise  place  where  it 
first  occurs,  is  easily  solved.     The  locale  is  not  accidental,  not 
first  in  one  place  and  then  in  another,  but  is  definitely  deter- 
mined by  a  physical  law  from  which  there  is  no  exception  ;  it 
must  and  can  only  occur  at  the  poles,  north  and  south.     Polar 
compression  in  the  bodily  mass  of  every  planet  in  the  system 
is  caused  by  axillary  rotation  :  from  centrifugal  action  alone 
the  polar  parts  of  the  sun  have   sunk,  and  the   zodiacal  and 
equatorial  parts  expanded  or  bulged  out,  thereby  causing  the 
polar  diameter  to  be  less  than  the  equatorial.     This  law  of 
axillary  projection  of  the  equatorial  parts,  and  a  rushing  of 
the  polar  parts  to  the  same  location,  would  obviously  effect  the 
first  disruption  at  the  poles,  from  the  effects  of  attenuation, 
and  a  collapse  upon  the  equatorial  diameter  of  the  crust. 

"  '  That  the  solar  crust  being  somewhere  disrupted,  collapses 
upon  itself  on  the  admission  of  the  vortical  volume  ;  and  this 
toward  tlie  zodiacal  circle  of  the  vortex  ;  so  that  it  surrounds 
the  sun  like  a  belt  or  broad  circle  ;  that  this  belt  gyrates  in  a 
similar  manner  ;  removes  itself  to  a  farther  distance,  and  by 
its  removal  becomes  attenuated  till  it  bursts,  and  forms  into 
larger  and  smaller  globes  ;  that  is  to  say,  forms  planets  and 
satellites  of  various  dimensions,  but  of  a  spherical  figure.' — 
Ibid.,  n.  5. 

.  III.  The  Distribution  of  Orbs  into  a  Solar  Sijstem. — "  Ac- 
cording to  the  Swedenborgian  Theory,  the  planetary  bodies 
originated  near  the  solar  equatorial  surface,  by  the  disruption 
of  a  cruslaceous  belt,  as  stated  above.  After  the  disruption, 
the  crustaceous  pieces,  as  planets,  launclied  out  and  extended 
their  excursions  from  the  sun  to  various  distances  in  the  zodi- 
acal plane  of  the  great  vortex  or  system.  In  this  respect  it 
essentially  differs  from  the  Laplacian  Hypothesis,  which  affirms 
tliat  planets  have  been  left  at  their  respective  distances  by 
the  contraction  of  the  solar  mass,  which  originally  extended  tc 
the  successive  distances  of  the  planetary  orbits. 

"  '  Hence  it  follows,  that  these  bodies  direct  their  course 


i 


into  the  vortical  current  accordinsj  to  their  magnitude  and 
weight ;  that  they  continue  more  and  more  to  elongate  their 
distance  from  the  sun,  until  they  arrive  at  their  destined 
periphery  or  orbit  in  the  solar  vortex,  where  they  are  in 
equilibrium  with  the  volume  of  the  vortex.' — Ibid.,  n.  7. 

"  '  That  the  earth  perpetually  revolves  round  its  axis  spon- 
taneously ;  that  is  to  say,  by  reason  of  the  nitency  of  its  indi- 
vidual parts  constituting  its  central  globe ;  and  thus  that  it 
begins  to  measure  the  intervals  of  day  and  night  the  moment 
of  its  making  its  exit  from  the  sun  ;  at  which  moment  also 
it  seems  to  perform  its  axillary  revolutions  more  rapidly  than 
it  does  at  a  farther  distance  from  the  sun,  when  a  considerable 
portion  of  it  is  consumed  in  the  formation  of  ether,  air,  water, 
and  terrestrial  matter,  and  the  parts  of  the  earth  become  more 
closely  bound  and  connected  with  each  other  by  means  of  a 
solid  incrustation.' — Ibid.,  chap,  xi.,  n.  2. 

"  The  question  now  arises,  What  is  the  direct  physical  cause 
which  compelled  each  planet  to  select  or  settle  down  in  the 
exact  locality  it  now  occupies,  and  which  compels  them  to 
remain  in  that  locality  and  not  to  encroach  upon  each  other's 
domain  ?  The  answer  is  unique,  and  peculiar  to  the  Sweden- 
borgian Theory.  The  axillary  motion  of  each  planet  arises 
from  an  inherent  force  derived  from  the  sun,  whose  motion  is 
in  itself.  This  self-motion  necessarily  forms  a  vortex  around 
each  planet,  which  consists  of  the  elements  of  the  general  vor- 
tex in  which  they  float  or  gyrate  orbitally.  The  axillary  mo- 
tion forms  a  vortex  of  its  own,  and  the  precise  velocity  of  this 
axillary  vortex  determines  the  orbital  location  in  the  general 
vortex.  If  it  be  greater  or  swifter,  then  a  slower  locality  of 
the  general  vortex  would  be  selected  ;  and  if  slower,  then  a 
swifter  location  would  be.  preferred.  Equilibrium  between 
the  individual  or  planetary  vortex  and  the  general  or  solar 
vortex,  determines  the  position  or  location  of  the  planets.  This 
simple  relation  subsisting  between  the  velocities  of  the  plane- 
tary vortex  and  general  solar  vortex,  is  the  physical  cause  of 
tlie  location  and  distribution  of  orbs  in  the  Solar  System. 
Hence  Swedenborg  says  : — 

'^  •  The  vortex   formed  round  the  earth  aims  at  an  equili- 
brium in  the  solar  vortex,  that  is  to  say,  occupies  the  place 


328 


swedenborg's  astronomical  theories. 


\ 


where  it  can  be  in  a  state  of  equilibrium.  That  were  the 
vortical  motion  greater  or  swifter,  it  would  seek  a  different 
locality  from  what  it  would  were  the  motion  less,  or  slower/ — 
Ibid,,  Part  III.,  chap,  xi.,  n.  5. 

"  Now  the  extraordinary  result  from  this  simple  law  is  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  facts  belonging  to  the  Solar 
System.  We  should  expect  the  nearest  planets  to  the  sun  to 
have  the  least  axillary  motion  and  the  greatest  orbital  velocity : 
and  the  farthest  planets  to  have  the  quickest  axillary  motion 
and  the  least  orbital  velocity.  And  as  a  general  rule  this  is 
actually  the  case.  Humboldt  says,  '  The  rotation  is  most 
rapid  in  the  case  of  the  exterior  planets,  which  have  at  the 
same  time  a  longer  period  of  revolution  ;  slower  in  the  case 
of  the  smaller  interior  planets,  which  are  nearer  the  sun.'— 
{CosDios,  vol.  iv.,  p.  449.) 

"  We  regard  Swedenborg's  Theory  as  capable  of  explain- 
ing all  the  main  facts  of  the  System,  and  as  constituting 
the  widest  and  most  comprehensive  generalization  of  all  the 
fundamental  features  of  the  Solar  Region,  that  Theoretic  As- 
tronomy has  ever  yet  recorded." — New  Church  Repository  for 
1855,  pp.  301-307,  and  428-434. 


7 


« 

\ 


LIST    OF   AUTHORITIES    CITED, 


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Balzac    .        .        .        ... 160 

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Baur,  Dr.  von,  Professor  at  Tubingen 65 

Benade,  Rev.  William  H 26 

Berzelius,  Baron 4 

Beswick,  S.    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         •  1,  15,  151,  251-325 

Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal  of  1846        ...      6,  131 
Calvert,  F.  C,  Professor  at  Manchester,  England         .        .  245 

Carlyle 10 

Christian  Examiner,  of  1843 79 

Coleridge 4,  56,  76 

Collin,  Rev.  N.,  of  Philadelphia 47 

Corsair,  The ;  of  New  York,  1839 26 

Critic,  The ;  of  1847,  London 7   162 

Dawson,  George  D.,  of  England 6 

Dissertation  on  the  Royal  Society  of  Sciences  at  Upsal        .        .    47 

Dumas,  M.,  Professor  in  College  of  France 244 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo 23,  39 

Family  Herald,  London 29 

Ferelius,  Rev.  A.,  London 46 

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Hamilton,  Dr.,  Professor  at  Edinburgh 60 

Hartley,  Dr.,  Rector  of  Winwick,  England  .         .        .        .       41,  43 
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Hiller,  Rev.  Prescott,  of  London 2 

Hood,   Edwin    Paxton,    author  of    "The   Age    and    its   Archi- 
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of  Labor," 19,  57,  73,  151 

Hopken,  Count  A.  J.  von ;  Prime  Minister  of  Sweden         .     43,  197 

Hurd,  Dr 60 

Idler,  The  ;  of  1856,  London 32 

Intellectual  Repository,  of  London        ....       3,  227,  244 

(329) 


330 


LIST   OF  AUTHORITIES   CITED. 


Pag© 

Jerrold's  Magazine,  1845 4 

Journal  Encyclopedique,  of  1785,  Paris         .         .         .         .11,  153 

London  True  Sun,  of  1839 26 

Matter,   M.,   Honorary    Counsellor    of  the    University,    Paris, 

22,  CI,  150,  174 
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Medical  Critic  and  Psychological  Journal,  of  1861,  London  .     23 

Medical  Gazette,  of  1842,  London 129 

Messiter,  Dr.,  of  London 49 

Mill,  Dr.  John,  of  London 31 

Mimer,  a  Swedish  Journal 70 

Monthly  Magazine,  of  1841,  London     ....  10,  34,  82 

Monthly  Review,  of  1844,  London 8,  242 

Morrell,  J.  D.,  author  of  "An  Historical  and  Critical  View  of 

Speculative  Philosophy  " 170 

Mortimer,  Dr.  Cromwell,  Secretary  to  Royal  Society  in  London  .  150 

National  Quarterly  Review,  of  1865 27 

New  American  Encyclopajdia 61 

New  Church  Advocate 117 

New  Church  Quarterly  Review 178,  182,  245 

New  Jerusalem  Magazine 244 

Oettinger,  Dr.,  Prelate  of  Murrhard,  Germany  .  .  .  .55 
Patterson,  Professor  of  University  of  Pennsylvania       .         .         .  151 

Penny  Cyclopaedia 81 

Phrenological    Almanac    and   Psychological    Journal,    of    1844, 

Glasgow 126 

Reed,  Sampson,  of  Boston,  in  New  American  Encyclopaedia  .  61 
Rich,  Elihu,  of  London,  author  of  "  Sketch  of  Life  of  Sweden- 

borg" 33 

Richardson,  G.  F.,  of  London,  in  "Geology  for  Beginners"  .  149 
Robsham,  Carl,  President  of  Bank  of  Sweden  .  .  .  .45 
Sandel,  M.   Samuel,  Counsellor  of  the  Royal  Board  of  Mines, 

Stockholm 41,  77 

Schleiden,  Dr.  M.  J. ;  Professor  in  Jena,  Germany  .  .  56,  150 
Southern  Quarterly  Review,  of  1843,  and  1846      .         .  10,  29,  78 

Spurgin,  Dr.,  President  of  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  London 

175,  195 
Tafel,  Dr.  J.  F.  Immanuel,  Professor  of  Plulosophy  in  Tiibingen 

65,  60,  179,  194 

Thome,  Marquis  de 11,  153 

Thorild,  Professor  in  University  at  Greifswalde,  Prussia       .         .21 

Tribune,  Daily,  New  York 236 

Veterinary  Record,  of  1845 33,  132 

Wilkinson,  Dr.  J.  J.  Garth,  of  London,   12,  26  (in  London  True 

Sun),  34,  62,  69,  72,  74,  81  (in  Penny  Cyclopaedia),  90,  95,  122, 

130,  134,  163,  223,  234. 


INDEX. 


Absurdity  of  Creation  of  World  from 

Nothing,  102. 
"Acta  Eruditorum  Lipsiensia,"  cited, 

99,  115,  143,  235. 
Actives,  Swedenborg's,  254,  256. 
Air-tight  tStove,  2U4. 
Airy,  Astronomer  Royal,  quoted,  291. 
Alison,  Prof,  in  Edinburgh,  cited,  237. 
Alstedius,  cited,  157. 
Analysis,  Swedenborg's,  89. 
Anatomists,  the  old,  134. 
Anatomy,   its   state   at   Swedenborg's 

time,  134. 
"Animal  Kingdom,"  reviewed,  6,9,33, 

75,  110,  126,  127,  132,  141,  143,  144; 

its  contents,  211,  213. 
Animal  Magnetism,  157. 
Animal  Spirits,  135,  140. 
Aristotle's  Organon,  165. 
Atmospheric  Air,  its  compound  nature 

known  to  Swedenborg,  257. 
Atoraists,  the,  179. 

Bacon,  quoted,  166,  167;  his  Organon, 
165;  his  Philosophy,  164, 168. 

Barry,  Dr.,  cited,  131,  225. 

Beautiful,  the ;  Swedenborg's  idea  con- 
cerning, 70. 

Bell,  cited,  131. 

Bessel,  quoted,  302. 

Bichat,  cited,  237. 

Blood,  causes  of  its  motion,  238;  its 
vitality,  236. 

Blumenbach,  cited,  131,  237,  238. 

Boerhaave's  "  Institutiones  Medicae," 
141. 

Boscovich,  cited,  300. 

Brain,  its  motion,  84, 192,  237 ;  its  organ- 
ization, 88. 

British  Magazine,  cited,  131. 

Buffon,  corrected,  154;  plagiarizes  from 
Swcdeuborg,  160,  313. 

Camus,  magnetic  experiments  of,  154. 

Cams,  cited,  102. 

Chemistry,  Geometrical  Theory  of,  96. 

Clissold,  Uev.  A.,  cited,  102;  his  account 
of  Swedenborg's  "  Principia,"  101. 

Connection  between  Science,  Philoso- 
phy, and  Theology  accomi^lished  by 
Swedenborg,  37. 

Correspondence,  doctrine  of,  35,  85,  94, 
186. 

Creation  of  World  from  Nothing,  ab- 
surdity of,  102. 

Creation,  Theory  of,  262. 

Crystallization,  245. 

Crystallography,  244. 

Dalton,  on  Atoms,  245. 
Degrees,  doctrine  of,  80,  87,  88,  92, 172, 
188. 


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Democritus,  his  system,  180. 
Doctor  Fell,  140. 

Doctrine  of  Correspondence  and  Repre- 
sentation, 35,  94,  186. 
Doctrine  of  Degrees,  80,  87,  88,  92, 172, 

188. 
Doctrine  of  Forms,  85,  87, 90, 171. 

of  Influx,  94. 

of  Leasts,  229. 

of  Modification,  94. 

of  Order,  92,  93. 

of  Series,  86,  88,  93, 172, 188. 

of  Society,  93. 

of  Spiral  Form,  223. 
Doctrines,  their  object  and  use,  168. 
Dumas,  M.,  cited,  236,  244. 

"Economy  of  Animal  Kingdom,"  re- 
viewed, 25.  28,  75,  76,  84;  its  con- 
tents, 210,  213. 

Ehrensvard,  cited,  70. 

Elements,  Swedenborg's,  255,  256. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  corrected,  24:  his 
opinion  of  Dr.  J.  J.  Garth  Wilkin- 
son, 72. 

Endosmosis  and  Exosmosis,  239. 

Ettrick,  Rev.  Mr.,  cited,  59. 

Facts,  -what  are  they?  118;  direct  and 
oblique,  119;  necessity  of  sifting, 
120;  Swedenborg's  facts.  111,  117. 
127. 

Fallacy  of  La  Place's  theory  of  Creation, 
317. 

Fanatic,  defined,  20. 

Fichte,  the  elder,  cited,  194. 

Final  Causes,  34,  35. 

Fiuites,  Swedenborg's,  253,  254,  256. 

Flaxman,  a  student  of  Swedenborg,  5. 

Foramen  of  Monro,  142,  242. 

Forms,  doctrine  of,  85,  87,  90, 171. 

Gassendi,  cited,  180. 

Gauss,  his  magnetic  theory  compared 

with  Swedenborg's,  291. 
Geometrical  theory  of  Chemistry,  96. 
Geometry,  its  limits,  187. 
Glisson,  cited,  131,  140. 
Gothe,  a  student  of  Swedenborg,  130. 
Grainger,  Prof.,  cited,  223. 
Gi-avitation,  its  nature,  321. 

Ilaller's  "Bibliotheca  Anatomica,"  cited, 

144. 
Harmonists,  the,  180. 
Heart  and  Lungs,  192. 
Heart,  its  correspondence,  192. 
Ileister,  quoted,  140. 
Hermotimus,  in  a  state  similar  to  that 

of  Swedenborg,  182. 
Herschel,  Sir  J.,  quoted,  307,  310,  323. 
"  Hieroglyphic  Key,"  reviewed,  110. 


(331) 


332 


INDEX. 


Hippocrates,  cited,  41. 

Honiceopathy,  its  least  doses  explained, 

nj-)    '233. 

Hopken,  Count;  his  estimate  of  Swe- 

denborg's  Theology,  197. 
Human  Body,  Theory  of,  104. 
Human    Soul,    Swedenborg's   plan    of 

studying  it,  107. 
Humboldt,  Alexander  von,  quoted,  278, 

280,  281,  285,  286,  291,  300,  306,  328. 
Hyrtl,  Prof.,  cited,  234. 

Ideas,  organic,  121. 

Import  of  the  Scientific  System  of  Swe- 
denborg,  122. 

Induction,  modem  Method  of,  137 ;  Swe- 
denborg's Induction,  111. 

Influx,  doctrine  of,  94. 

Insanity,  defined,  59. 

Integrality  of  Swedenborg's  works,  111. 

*♦  Introduction  to  Rational  Psychology," 

Iron,  its  importance,  147 ;  its  metallurgy, 
147. 

Kant,  cited,  300. 
Kempelen,  quoted,  241. 

La  Grange's  Theory  of  Stability  of  Solar 
System,  310. 

La  Mcltrie,  cited,  180. 

La  Place,  his  nebular  theory,  316;  fal- 
lacy of  his  theory,  317  ;  dift'ercnce 
between  his  theory  and  Sweden- 
borg's, 317. 

Leasts,  doctrine  of,  229. 

Leucippns,  system  of,  179. 

Liston,  Prof.,  quoted,  237. 

Locke,  cited,  189. 

"  Love  and  Worship  of  God,"  reviewed, 
56,  72,  K,  89,  115. 

Love  of  natural  Facts,  120. 

Lungs,  their  correspondence,  192. 

Luzac,  Eli,  quoted,  180, 181. 

Macrocosm  and  Microcosm,  their  rela- 
tion, 105. 
Magnet,  theory  of,  157. 
Magnetic  Axis,  282. 

♦♦        Effluvia,  296. 

««        Element,  295. 

"         Equator,  280. 

•«  Poles,  280:  their  attractive 
force,  285 ;  their  revolutions, 
283. 

••  Sphere,  type  of  Starry  Hea- 
vens, 295,  298. 

«•         Storms,  288. 

««        Streams,  286. 

««  Theory,  Gauss',  291 ;  Sweden- 
borg's, 291. 

"        Vorticles,  296, 
Magnetism,  Animal,  157. 
Mandl,  microscopist,  cited,  225. 
Manuscript  Works,  Swedenborg's,  117, 

201,  2U3,  214,  215. 
"March  of  Intellect,"  139, 145. 
Materialists,  three  classes  of,  179. 
Mathematical  Philosophy  of  Universals, 

189. 
Mathematicians,  Swedenborg's  idea  of, 

98. 


MathesiuB,  slanders  Swedenborg,  66 

Mechanical,  the,  124. 

Medical  Itepository,  cited,  129. 

Me^mer,  discussed,  158. 

Metallurgy,  Science  of,  100 ;  Metallurgy 
of  Iron,  147;  Swedenborg's  Metal- 
lurgy, 149. 

Method,  Swedenborg's,  171, 173. 

Milky  Way,  Motion  of  Stars  in,  301. 

"Mineral  and  Philosophical  Works,'* 
reviewed,  99,  100,  149,  150. 

Mining,  Swedenborg  about,  157. 

"Miscellaneous  Observations,"  review- 
ed, 98 ;  their  contents,  205. 

Mitchell's  Theory  of  the  Heavens,  299. 

Modem  Philosophy,  its  process,  162. 

Modern  Physiology,  its  state,  138. 

Modern  Science,  Swedenborg's  relation 
to,  114, 141. 

Moderns,  their  value,  139. 

Modification,  doctrine  of,  94. 

Monro,  Foramen  of,  142,  242. 

Moral  Requisites  of  Philosophy,  167. 

Mossatti,  Prof.,  quoted,  305. 

Mystic,  defined,  57. 

Nature,  defined,  36. 

Nebular  Theory  of  Herschel,  310 ;  of  La 

Place,  316 ;  of  Swedenborg,  320. 
Necessity  of  sifting  facts,  120. 
Neptunian  Theory  of  Creation  of  Solids, 

246. 
Nervous  Fibre,  88. 
Mervous  Fluid,  84. 
Nitrogen,  Bes  wick's  account  not  correct, 

267. 
No  Contradiction  in  Swedenborg,  118. 
Nutation,  228. 

Order,  doctrine  of,  92,  93. 

Organic  Ideas,  121. 

Organon,  Aristotle's,  165;  Bacon's,  165; 
"  Swedenborg's,  166. 

Original  Letters  and  Papers  by  Sweden- 
borg, 201. 

"Outlines  of  the  Infinite,"  reviewed, 
102, 175. 

Oxygen,  Swedenborg's  Fifth  Finites, 
257. 

Particular  facts,  the  grand  quest  of  the 
times,  137. 

Patmore,  quoted,  11. 

Perpetual  Vortical,  the,  183. 

Philosopher  and  Poet,  contrasted,  162. 

Philosophers,  the  Scholastic,  184. 

Philosophy,  Aristotle's,  168;  Bacon's, 
164, 168;  Modern,  162;  transforming 
and  transfusing,  163 ;  Moral  Requi- 
sites of,  167 ;  r.s.  Theology,  34. 

Physiology,  Modern,  138. 

Planets,  their  formation,  326 ;  their  dis- 
tribution in  Solar  System,  326* 

Plants,  Spiral  Disposition  of  their  parts, 
223. 

Portat,  cited,  131. 

"Posthumous  Tracts,"  reviewed,  110; 
their  contents,  212. 

"  Principia,"  reviewed,  4,  28,  51,  74,  99, 
101 ;  its  contents,  101, 151,  209. 

"Principles  of  Chemistry,"  82,  96;  its 
contents,  203. 


INDEX. 


333 


Prout,  Dr.,  cited,  131,  240. 

Psychology,  Introduction  to  Rational, 
176. 

Realism  of  Modern  Times,  Specimen  of, 
82. 

Reed,  Sampson,  of  Boston,  cited,  10. 

Relation,  Swedenborg's  to  Modern  Sci- 
ence, 114, 141. 

Relation,  Swedenborg's  to  old  anato- 
mists, 136, 141. 

Representation,  doctrine  of,  35,  85,  94, 
106. 

Respiration,  84,  112,  134,  240;  and 
thought,  113. 

Rotary  motion,  its  origin,  317,  320, 

Rules  for  investigating  Nature,  79. 

Rules  of  Life,  Swedenborg's,  61. 

Salts,  new  theory  of,  248. 

Schlichting,  cited,  131,  238. 

Scholastic  Philosophers,  184, 

Science,  its  object,  109 ;  Science  vs.  Re- 
velation, 34. 

"  Searching  the  reins,"  35. 

Seneca,  quoted,  3, 177. 

Series,  doctrine  of,  86,  88,  93, 172, 188. 

Sidereal  Heaven,  its  organization,  298. 

Simple,  the ;  Swedenborg's,  252. 

Society,  doctrine  of,  93. 

Solar  Crust,  its  formation,  324. 

Solar  Mass,  its  formation,  322. 

Solar  System,  its  stability,  310, 

Souihey,  Dr.  cited,  11. 

Spiral  Form,  doctrine  of,  85,  223. 

Spiral  Forms  in  plants,  223;  in  animals, 
224. 

Spiral  Motion  in  parts  composing  the 
earth's  crust,  227. 

Spiritual,  the,  in  the  Mechanical,  124. 

Spleen,  its  function,  234. 

Sprengel's  History  of  Medicine,  cited, 
144. 

Spurgin,  Dr.;  his  anecdote  about  Swe- 
denborg's "True  Christian  Reli- 
gion," 195. 

Sun,  its  position  among  the  stars,  308. 

Supernatural,  the,  175;  the  Supernatu- 
ral and  Swedenborg,  175. 

Swedenborg,  compared  with  Bacon,  4, 
31,  34, 63, 164 ;  with  Leibnitz,  8 ;  with 
Newton,  31,  52;  with  Plato,  25,  30; 
his  parentage,  9 ;  his  youth,  95 ;  not 
married,  21,  43;  his  circumstances 
in  life,  46;  his  travels,  21,  48;  his 
death,  43;  integrality  of  his  works, 


123;  his  published  works,  198;  his 
manuscript  works,  117,  201,  203, 
214,  215;  his  letters  and  papers, 
201;  his  mathematics,  98,  199;  his 
metallurgy,  149;  his  philology,  44; 
his  civil  engineering,  44,  205;  his 
statesmanship,  43,  45 ;  his  chemical 
theories,  244 ;  he  describes  oxygen, 
257;  his  magnetic  theory,  291;  his 
nebular  theory,  320;  import  of  his 
scientific  system,  122;  his  relation 
to  the  old  anatomists,  136, 141 ;  his 
relation  to  modern  science,  114,  141 : 
his  facts.  111,  117, 127;  his  analysis, 
89;  his  induction.  Ill;  his  method, 
171, 173;  how  he  studied  the  human 
soul,  107 ;  his  Organon,  166 ;  he  is  the 
sj'nthesis  of  Aristotle  and  Bacon, 
168 ;  his  ideas  about  mining,  148 ;  his 
ideas  about  mathematicians,  98;  his 
idea  about  the  beautiful,  70;  his 
change  from  materialism  to  spiritu- 
alism, 182;  his  relation  to  the  super- 
natural, 175;  was  he  a  fanatic?  20; 
his  alleged  insanity,  59,  60;  his  rules 
of  life,  61 ;  why  people  are  afraid  to 
read  his  writings,  10. 
"  Systeme  de  la  Nature,"  cited,  180, 

Thomists,  the,  185. 
Thorild,  cited,  70. 
Thought  and  Respiration,  113. 
Transforming  Philosophy,  163, 
Transfusing  Philosophy,  163. 
Turner's  Chemistry,  quoted,  247,  249, 
250. 

Vortical  Form,  86. 
Vortical,  the  Perpetual,  183. 
Vorticles,  Magnetic,  296. 

Water,  its  composition,  245;  its  com- 
posite-nature known  to  Swedenborg, 
268 ;  Swedenborg's  theory  of  water, 
97. 

Wesley,  his  report  about  Swedenborg, 
59. 

Westminster  Review,  cited,  227. 

Why  many  persons  are  afraid  to  read 
Swedenborg's  writings,  10. 

Wilson,  Dr.,  on  causes  of  motion  of 
blood,  238. 

Wolft',  Christian,  cited,  103, 191. 

Wordsworth,  student  of  Swedenborg,  5« 


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work  differs  in  its  plan  from  both,  the  author  would  not  think  of 
adding  another  to  the  number. 

Besides  his  excellent  summary  of  the  internal  sense,  and  his 
valuable  notes  and  observations,  Mr.  Clowes'  work  consists  en- 
tirely of  extracts  from  the  writings  of  Swedenborg.  In  the 
present  work,  an  attempt  is  made  to  explain  the  whole.  The 
Author's  object  has  been  to  produce  a  Commentary  on  the  largest 
and  most  comprehensive  of  the  Gospels,  suitable  for  family  read- 
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Conteiits. 


Testimony  of  the  Evangelists. 

Tone  of  Existing  Skepticism  and  Un- 
belief. 

Bishop  Colenso. 

Strauss's  Life  of  Christ. 

Renan's  Life  of  Christ. 

The  Fourth  Gospel. 

The  Synoptical  Gospels. 

Effort  of  Modem  Skeptics. 

Swedenborg's  Doctrine  of  an  Internal 
Sense. 

Historical  Evidence  Unanswerable,  but 
not  Satisfactory. 


Second  Coming  of  the  Lord. 
The  Science  01  Correspondences. 

Not  Mere  Symbolism. 

A  Universal  Language. 
The  Scriptures  written  on  this  Principle. 
The  Science  of  Correspondences  known 

to  the  Ancients. 
Mr.  Palfrey's  Account  of  Josephus. 
Difficulties  in  the  Literal  Sense  of  the 

Bible. 
Character  of  Swedenborg. 
Essays  of  Mr.  Parsons. 
List  of  the  Works  of  Swedenbor:g. 


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Strauss,  and  others  on  the  subject.  The  author  comes  to  the 
conclusion,  that  the  theory  of  Biblical  Interpretation  contained 
in  the  writings  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg  is  the  true  one,  remov- 
ing the  infidels'  objections.  The  work  also  contains  a  statement 
of  the  doctrines  of  Swedenborg  on  this  point. 

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